The fascinating life of Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston was undoubtedly one of the greatest entertainers of our time.

Not only was she gifted with a unique and powerful voice, but she used it to create hope and change amongst her community, and around the world.

Seven years after her death, we look back at the genius of Whitney Houston, and the famously difficult life she led with the Whitney biopic now streaming on Stan.

Directed by Academy Award winner Kevin MacDonald, Whitney features raw, unarchived footage and audio from Houston herself, as well as exclusive interviews with family and friends of the late singer, including controversial ex-husband Bobby Brown.

The documentary does a brilliant job of capturing the essence of an artist gifted with immense abilities but plagued with personal troubles.

It paints a vivid picture of her spectacular rise to stardom in the halcyon years of the 1980s, and documents the dark days of her descent into addiction.

It's also filled with surprising facts and bombshells about her life and those who were part of it.

Here are a few things you may not have known about the late, great Whitney Houston…

She came from a family of singers

For Whitney Houston, singing was in the blood.

Her mother, Cissy Houston, was a Grammy-winning gospel singer and worked as a backup vocalist for the likes of Elvis and Aretha Franklin, who became Houston's godmother.

Her cousins included celebrated voices Dionne Warwick, Dee Dee Warwick and Leontyne Price.

She grew up in the ghetto

One of Whitney's earliest memories is ducking from gunfire during the 1967 riots in her hometown for Newark, New Jersey.

"I grew up in the ghetto," her voice can be heard saying within the first five minutes of Whitney, alongside graphic imagery of the notorious race riots.

She was known to those closest to her as "Nippy"

The nickname Nippy, given to her at a young age by her father, would go on to become an alter ego for the star when she wanted to escape the fame and revert back to comfort of her childlike self. 

She dated a string of famous men

Houston was linked to many notable men during the early years of her career including restaurateur Brad Johnson, comedian and actor Eddie Murphy, actor Robert DeNiro, and American football quarterback Randall Cunningham.

She was reportedly still dating Murphy in 1989 when she met Bobby Brown at the Soul Train Music Awards. The pair married three years later and went on to have daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in 1993.

She was bisexual

In her late teenage years, Houston began a close and long-lasting relationship with a woman, Robyn Crawford.

"What they say now in this time is that she's fluid," mused music director Rickey Minor.

"She flows, she goes whatever way she goes. She loves."

At the time, Houston denied rumours that she was a lesbian, and claimed that Crawford was simply her best friend.

Crawford would go on to be the maid of honour in Houston's 1992 wedding to Bobby Brown.

"It was a hard time for Robyn," recalled her friend and hairstylist Ellin Lavar.

"When you love someone, you want the best for them, even if it's not the best for you."

Former bodyguard David Roberts said that Crawford and Brown would go on to have physical fights over their shared loved of the singer.

Their intense relationship is explored further in Whitney.

She had a bone to pick with "sell outs"

Multiple times during the documentary, Houston and various members of her entourage can be heard dissing fellow performers such as Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, and C C + The Music Factory.

Houston called them "sell outs" and claimed they only achieved success because their image appealed to the masses. She also argued that one particular rival can't even sing. It's some juicy stuff.

She had a power-hungry dad

John Russell Houston, Jr., a former civil servant from New Jersey, served as his daughter's business manager, and reportedly let the job go to his head.

"John became a king… and he loved the fact that he could call anybody in Hollywood and they would take the meeting immediately. It's a power he never thought he would ever have," recalled film producer Debra Martin Chase, who worked closely with the family.

According to others interviewed in the documentary, he was stealing money, which ultimately spelled the end of his relationship with his daughter.

She was a devout Christian

Houston was deeply religious, and prayed before every show.

As a child, she loved going to church and used singing as a way to express her faith. 

Her funeral in 2012 was held at the New Hope Baptist Church, where she first made her debut as a member of the choir back in the 1960s.

She was a beacon of hope for the black community

While she was often bullied for being lighter-skinned, Houston's meteoric rise was eventually embraced by the African American community.

Her role in The Bodyguard alongside Kevin Costner was a landmark moment that broke social barriers with its high-profile representation of a mixed-race couple.

"The idea that she was my leading woman seemed to be a very big deal in the black community. I never saw that, I simply saw she was the cutest, most beautiful girl who could sing, and she happened to be black," recalled Costner.  

"Then I realised that she asked the plane to stop and she ran down the steps that every white woman has run down to kiss Cary Grant or whatever, and the camera went around, the way it went around white people kissing throughout the history of Hollywood and we forgot about what colour everyone was. That did change everything."

In 1994, Houston became the first major artist to play in post-apartheid South Africa when she performed a concert at Ellis Park, Johannesburg to honour President Nelson Mandela and celebrate a newly unified South Africa.

She donated all the proceeds to local children's charities.

She was allegedly abused by a family member during her childhood

When Houston and her brothers were young, they often stayed with various family members while their parents were travelling.

In Whitney, her friends and family recall the singer and her brothers speaking about being allegedly molested by a family member.

*Presented by Stan.