Whitney Houston’s FBI files suggest that her life of fortune and fame wasn’t all it was cracked up to be after she became the target of an extortion attempt and was the latest obsession for a crazed fan.
For the most part it seemed like Whitney Houston’s life was an open book. We all knew about her drug addictions and the troublesome marriage between her and Bobby Brown, but apparently there is some more personal details that the songstress didn’t want the public getting a hold of.
Of course, that is only to be expected when you’re an international singing sensation and R&B icon, but even then the extortion attempt is shocking news.
According to the NY Post the 128 page document revealed that Mrs. Houston might have handed over some serious cash to make sure details about her “private life” weren’t exposed to the public.
The first letter was written in 1992 and was marked “extortion” by the FBI. This letter demanded that the “I Will Always Love You” crooner hand over $100,000 or her deep secrets would be revealed.
The person who demanded the money, who Whitney Houston admitted to the FBI was a close friend of hers, then upped the ante by asking for $250,000 instead or else they were going to tell the world “intimate details” about her “romantic relationships.”
The extortion case was closed without anyone being prosecuted, but it was pretty expensive to get the person to go away.
Houston’s father, John Houston, decided to pay off the wannabe extortionist but the exact amount was blocked out in the documents.
In addition to sending the cash, John sent a confidentiality agreement in hopes of making sure his daughter’s personal life remained just that. 4
As if that wasn’t enough, the iconic songstress also had an extraordinarily crazy fan to deal with.
Any well known celebrity has a few strange fans that make them feel uncomfortable, but for Mrs. Houston one fan decided to take things to another level.
Remember that song “Stan” by Eminem?
It’s basically that except nobody throws their pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of their car and drives off a bridge – thank goodness.
The fan claimed to be madly in love with the “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” songstress to the point it made him shiver just thinking about her.
“Miss Whitney, you are just so pretty and so beautiful,” one of the many letters read. “I just cannot stop thinking about you. Many times when I think about you I will start to shake… I really and truly am in love with you.”
Unfortunately for Whitney, the stranger still didn’t catch the hint after the 60th letter with no response.
“Over the past 17 months, I have sent… 66 letters to Miss Whitney… I have been to 6 of 9 of Miss Whitney’s concerts and I have tried to give her flowers twice at the concerts,” another letter read. “When I first fell in love with Miss Whitney Houston I tired to ignore what I felt towards her. After 5 months I had to do something so I started writing letters. I have tried to stop writing the letters and to give up twice but after a few weeks I had to start writing again.”
Despite sending almost 100 letters, that’s actually not the creepiest part. The real scary part is when the fan feels like he might hurt somebody just because Houston has replied to his letters – this is the whole “Stan” thing I was talking about.
“I have gotten mad at her a few times…. It scares me that I might come up with some crazy or stupid or really dumb idea that might be as bad or even worse than that… I might hurt someone with some crazy idea,” another letter admitted.
And now here is the “Stan” moment that knocks it out the park.
“Miss Whitney, why can’t you respond to my 70 plus letters,” the fan wrote. “You probably think I’m crazy. Well, (maybe) I am. I just can’t give up. I have to keep trying. I really am in love with you.”
The FBI did have a chance to talk to the crazed fan and discovered that the fan didn’t follow through with the “crazy” plan nor did he have any intentions of doing so anymore because he feared doing anything that would harm Houston’s reputation.
