Whitney Houston was practically a member of the famous Winans family. Marvin Winans performed the ceremony in her wedding to Bobby Brown. Marvin’s sister CeCe Winans is the godmother to Whitney and Bobby’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and Whitney was the godmother to BeBe Winans’ daughter. Now an emotional BeBe chokes back tears as he tells Showbiz Tonight’s A.J. Hammer about the way his family plans on remembering Whitney at her funeral on Saturday.
BeBe says Marvin will be giving Whitney’s eulogy and will be “speaking from the heart.” BeBe and his sister CeCe, who often shared the stage singing with Whitney, will honor their late friend in song. “We are going to do our best to represent what she meant to us from our heart. It will be hard.”
CeCe will be performing one of BeBe’s songs, “Don’t Cry For Me,” which he says held special meaning for him and Whitney. “There’s a lyric that says ‘My death was meant to be so don’t carry guilt and shame. The reason why I came soon you’ll see. Don’t cry for me.’ And it is so right. It’s something that Whitney would say.”
As for BeBe, he will perform a song at the funeral that he originally wrote for his late brother. “[The song] simply says I’ll miss you. I’ll miss your smile. I’ll miss your wit, your charm. And most of all, most importantly I’ll miss that time that we shared together.”
BeBe says he also has a special connection with Whitney’s daughter Bobbi Kristina. “I’m going to see her probably tonight and I’m going to hug her,” says BeBe.
As for words of condolence, BeBe says he learned an important lesson while he was grieving for his late brother -- what matters the most is just being there. “When it comes to Bobbi Kristina and everyone else in the Houston family, I’m just going to be there. When she cries I’m gonna cry with her, when she laughs I’m gonna laugh with her. I’m just going to be here.”
Programming Note: All this week, tune in to HLN’s Nancy Grace at 8 p.m. ET, live from Hollywood, for up-to-the-minute details surrounding Whitney Houston's death, followed by Dr. Drew at 9 p.m. ET with more on the singer's battles with addiction. HLN will begin live coverage at 9 a.m. ET Saturday for funeral events in New Jersey on “Farewell to Whitney Houston.”
For more on the death of Whitney Houston and other stories like this, tune into Showbiz Tonight weeknights on HLN at 11 p.m. ET/PT
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