Denzel Washington on Working with Whitney Houston

At one of the heights of his career, following films like “Malcolm X,” “Philadelphia,” and “Devil in a Blue Dress,” Denzel Washington starred in a remake of the 1947 Christmas movie, “The Bishop’s Wife.” Directed by the late great Penny Marshall, the remake was called “The Preacher’s Wife” and centered on a struggling Baptist pastor, played by Courtney B. Vance, and an angel come down to help, but who ends up focusing more on the pastor’s wife. Marshall cast this role to another megawatt talent of the time, Whitney Houston. Discussing his career with Chaz Ebert at the American Black Film Festival in Miami, per People, Denzel Washington remembered the concern he had for Houston while making the film.

“I felt like I always wanted to protect her,” he said. Ebert acknowledged how this was present in the film. She said, “There was a vulnerability that you saw.”

Surprised this came across in his performance, Washington asked Ebert, “So you really got that?” 

Ebert confirmed her view, to which Washington mockingly took credit, as if it was intentional. To laughs, he said, “Well, of course.”

Putting jokes aside, Washington said of Houston, “I always felt like I wanted to protect her. You know? She wanted to be so tough, but she really wasn’t. That’s all.”

Houston died in 2012 following many years of substance abuse issues and at her funeral, Kevin Costner gave a stirring eulogy. He had co-starred with her…