January 27, 2025 • 6 mins
He was not the bodyguard Kevin Costner was portraying, or was he??!! Dave Roberts, Whitney Houston’s real-life bodyguard joins us on his book “Protecting Whitney.”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Your Morning Show with Michael dil Choana.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
You know, probably the biggest difference between the movie Bodyguard
with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston is in the movie
they're protecting her from someone trying to harm her. In
real life the impossible task to protect her from herself.
So probably not the bodyguard portrayed by Kevin Costner, or
(00:24):
was he. I've seen Dave Roberts in a lot of documentaries.
This guy really cared. This guy was really good, and
he was the real bodyguard for the longest period of time.
And what a pleasure it is to talk to you
this morning, Dave. Good morning. I'm doing great. I've seen
you in documentaries. I've read the book. It was terrific.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I guess for the listeners listening there, their first question
would always be, well, why did you feel I need
to write this book? And what were you hoping they
would come away with and what do you think might
surprise them a bit learn something they didn't know about
Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, to write the book for me was cathartic. It
dissipated much of the of the anger that I have
been carrying for many many years, and given the amount
of time that has passed, the decades that have passed,
it just fits. It's just an appropriate thing to do.
And in fact, when my agent saw it, she said,
(01:23):
this is the book that Whitney herself would want.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I have seen so many different documentaries and and you
always stick out because that passion is there, that frustration,
that anger. We saw with John Belushi, we saw with
Michael Jackson, we saw with a lot of these starts.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You can see it coming.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's a slow motion train of disaster, and yet no
one can stop it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That's right. That really bothered you. And yet it doesn't
happen to everyone. And you've got to think why is
it the individual or is it the outfit the entity
that is looking at to them? And in the main,
I would say the success of people like barbustreis and
share many many others, and there have been many others,
(02:09):
is because of who was guiding them, not who was
abandoning them on the basis of I need to get
my mortgage paid. It keep singing, keep singing.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
We're talking to David Roberts. The book is called Protecting Whitney.
He was their bodyguard in nineteen nineteen eighty eight, and
you often do this jokingly.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
How much of the movie was you?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Virtually in a lot of ways, everything but the personal relationship.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Okay, the movie was originally written twenty two years before
just made I believe Steve McQueen and Diana Ross they
were the stars. Mister Cosner bought that twenty years later
and revised it to represent himself and Whitney in the role.
When I saw the film, I wasn't involved in it
(02:59):
at all. When I saw the film, I was impressed
that many of the things that they did, she and
I had done.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Somebody studied you, David, because I mean, think of the
Costner character. He obviously had a military background at all.
It wasn't used to protecting stars. But the dignitary. There's
a lot of you in that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh maybe so. But the thing that first struck me
watching that film is when he knew what he had
to do, he went out and bought her records and
watched her on the television. I'd never seen her on
the television. In fact, I asked my daughter when the
embassy asked me to look after, who is this Whitney Houston?
Just the biggest name I want to dance with somebody.
(03:43):
I don't care who you want to dance it. You
could dance afterwards. Tell me who she is. That's her
number one record. I had no idea, absolutely no idea.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh and David seven number one songs off that album
knocked the Beatles off the chart still holds the record
for female artist. I think what you were most angered at,
most frustrated by and some people have this where you
can't for that was in the movie that much. You
can't protect someone from themselves. But the more I study
(04:11):
Whitney Houston, I think it started in childhood through molestation.
But you were seeing the family around her, the people
that are supposed to love her the most, and they
were as much a part of what you needed to
protect her from as anything outside.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
A bear in mind, the love was genuine. Oh, it
was dysfunctional, but the most and she loved them best.
Whitney Houston was a giver, not a taker. She would
give everybody anything. I never saw anybody give her anything.
(04:49):
Is She won the awards, but nobody gave her anything
from their hearts. I suspect Bobby Brown did in their
time together, but otherwise no, they just took you know,
it's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Everybody thinks they know this story, and there'll be a
lot of people that'll buy your book and read it
looking for a new morsel. And they all have their villain.
Bobby is probably the biggest villain. Her father's betrayal. That's
the one that breaks. I'm a father of daughters, and
I mean that guy is low on my list. You're
watching all this, how do you how do you try
(05:22):
to reach her and help her? And was she responsive
to any of the warnings.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
At the time? In mind, now this only came to
a head, shall we say, in the last nine months. Yeah,
that's how long it took to identify it, to seek
assistance and to be denied, and then to be told
thank you. Miss Houston is making no more international tools.
She does not need anyone to go caliber. But if
(05:48):
she decides to tool in the future, we'll phone you.
And I guess the folks still hasn't run.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Thirty five years later, the name of the book is
called Protecting Whitney.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Us A little, miss a lot, miss a lot, and
We'll miss you. It's your Morning Show with Michael del Churno.
Previously on Your Morning Show with Michael dil Choana.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
You know, probably the biggest difference between the movie Bodyguard
with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston is in the movie
they're protecting her from someone trying to harm her. In
real life the impossible task to protect her from herself.
So probably not the bodyguard portrayed by Kevin Costner, or
(00:24):
was he. I've seen Dave Roberts in a lot of documentaries.
This guy really cared. This guy was really good, and
he was the real bodyguard for the longest period of time.
And what a pleasure it is to talk to you
this morning, Dave. Good morning. I'm doing great. I've seen
you in documentaries. I've read the book. It was terrific.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I guess for the listeners listening there, their first question
would always be, well, why did you feel I need
to write this book? And what were you hoping they
would come away with and what do you think might
surprise them a bit learn something they didn't know about
Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, to write the book for me was cathartic. It
dissipated much of the of the anger that I have
been carrying for many many years, and given the amount
of time that has passed, the decades that have passed,
it just fits. It's just an appropriate thing to do.
And in fact, when my agent saw it, she said,
(01:23):
this is the book that Whitney herself would want.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I have seen so many different documentaries and and you
always stick out because that passion is there, that frustration,
that anger. We saw with John Belushi, we saw with
Michael Jackson, we saw with a lot of these starts.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You can see it coming.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's a slow motion train of disaster, and yet no
one can stop it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That's right. That really bothered you. And yet it doesn't
happen to everyone. And you've got to think why is
it the individual or is it the outfit the entity
that is looking at to them? And in the main,
I would say the success of people like barbustreis and
share many many others, and there have been many others,
(02:09):
is because of who was guiding them, not who was
abandoning them on the basis of I need to get
my mortgage paid. It keep singing, keep singing.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
We're talking to David Roberts. The book is called Protecting Whitney.
He was their bodyguard in nineteen nineteen eighty eight, and
you often do this jokingly.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
How much of the movie was you?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Virtually in a lot of ways, everything but the personal relationship.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Okay, the movie was originally written twenty two years before
just made I believe Steve McQueen and Diana Ross they
were the stars. Mister Cosner bought that twenty years later
and revised it to represent himself and Whitney in the role.
When I saw the film, I wasn't involved in it
(02:59):
at all. When I saw the film, I was impressed
that many of the things that they did, she and
I had done.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Somebody studied you, David, because I mean, think of the
Costner character. He obviously had a military background at all.
It wasn't used to protecting stars. But the dignitary. There's
a lot of you in that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh maybe so. But the thing that first struck me
watching that film is when he knew what he had
to do, he went out and bought her records and
watched her on the television. I'd never seen her on
the television. In fact, I asked my daughter when the
embassy asked me to look after, who is this Whitney Houston?
Just the biggest name I want to dance with somebody.
(03:43):
I don't care who you want to dance it. You
could dance afterwards. Tell me who she is. That's her
number one record. I had no idea, absolutely no idea.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh and David seven number one songs off that album
knocked the Beatles off the chart still holds the record
for female artist. I think what you were most angered at,
most frustrated by and some people have this where you
can't for that was in the movie that much. You
can't protect someone from themselves. But the more I study
(04:11):
Whitney Houston, I think it started in childhood through molestation.
But you were seeing the family around her, the people
that are supposed to love her the most, and they
were as much a part of what you needed to
protect her from as anything outside.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
A bear in mind, the love was genuine. Oh, it
was dysfunctional, but the most and she loved them best.
Whitney Houston was a giver, not a taker. She would
give everybody anything. I never saw anybody give her anything.
(04:49):
Is She won the awards, but nobody gave her anything
from their hearts. I suspect Bobby Brown did in their
time together, but otherwise no, they just took you know,
it's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Everybody thinks they know this story, and there'll be a
lot of people that'll buy your book and read it
looking for a new morsel. And they all have their villain.
Bobby is probably the biggest villain. Her father's betrayal. That's
the one that breaks. I'm a father of daughters, and
I mean that guy is low on my list. You're
watching all this, how do you how do you try
(05:22):
to reach her and help her? And was she responsive
to any of the warnings.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
At the time? In mind, now this only came to
a head, shall we say, in the last nine months. Yeah,
that's how long it took to identify it, to seek
assistance and to be denied, and then to be told
thank you. Miss Houston is making no more international tools.
She does not need anyone to go caliber. But if
(05:48):
she decides to tool in the future, we'll phone you.
And I guess the folks still hasn't run.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Thirty five years later, the name of the book is
called Protecting Whitney.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Us A little, miss a lot, miss a lot, and
We'll miss you. It's your Morning Show with Michael del Churno.
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