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Whitney Houston’s Casket Photo: Why Its Publishing Wasn’t As Bad As The Media Made It Seem

by David Caplan | 4:56 pm, February 24th, 2012

» 25 comments

So the National Enquirer has once again pushed the journalistic envelope by publishing on its cover a sneakily-taken photo of Whitney Houston lying in an open casket.

Is there outrage? Of course. The finger-wagging by the media and fans was instantaneous following its release on Wednesday.

“Tabloid Revealing Whitney Houston’s Casket On Cover Is Disgusting,” screamed an Ology.com headline.

GossipCop wrote, “It’s astoundingly poor taste and low stooping, even by the Enquirer’s standards.”

I could go on. But is everyone universally outraged at the photo’s publication? Absolutely not.

I share with these critics that the Enquirer’s decision to publish such a photo is definitely is intrusive to the Houston family.

“The family had a private funeral for a reason,” wrote a reader on my site, GossipDavid.com, “not for this to get out,”

And I believe it didn’t have the blessing of her family, despite some of the conspiracy theories some fans have expressed, suggesting the family leaked it for money (The Houston family, it should be noted, has yet to confirm the photo is legitimate). But I don’t doubt its authenticity. As a former editor at People magazine, Star and TMZ’s TooFab.com, I know this happens. After all, the Enquirer and others have a history of publishing such photos; two come immediately to mind: Elvis Presley’s open casket snapshot in 1977, and a photo of a dead Michael Jackson on OK! Magazine’s cover in 2009.

The fact that it’s obviously not officially authorized is disconcerting. The picture is believed to have been taken inside the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, where Houston’s family attended a private wake last Friday. And families, regardless of their star power, need privacy while grieving. This explains why the family didn’t go ahead with a public memorial at Newark’s Prudential Center.

But celebrities live their lives in the public — they enjoy a symbiotic relationship with fans and the press — and it just comes with the territory. The finger-wagging by the media in particular — and to a certain degree, fans — seems a bit overly self-righteous. The media outlets and fans built up Whitney, and were the first to expose and essentially ridicule her addictions and relationship troubles. Now, all of a sudden, they’re playing Pollyanna.

While I appreciate the perspectives on why the photo’s publication is just plain wrong, I’m looking instead at the hundreds of fans who commented that the photo actually gave them closure, since they never got the public memorial they so wanted. That’s what swayed me.

One reader wrote: “She died as she lived, on stage. There is no harm seeing her dead in her casket. At least it gives her legions of fans closure. You see her there resting and you take away a feeling of peace.”

Chimed in another, “What about all of us who were not invited to the funeral? Do all of you naysayers believe we the fans do not need closure also? If it wasn’t for the fans there would be no Whitney Houston to the masses.”

And let’s look at the actual photo: Houston looks amazing — She’s lying in a golden casket, wearing purple, and reportedly sporting jewels worth $500,000.

I appreciate the above observation may be irrelevant and far too superficial for some, but that’s the diva I know and came to love. And a huge number of fans agree.

On my site, one of the few to publish the photo, one reader commented that, “She looks great! No shame in the pic.” Chimed in another: “Nice picture, she looks like she was. What is wrong about this?” And another: “She looks beautiful and at peace…it made me feel better to see it. RIP Whitney, you troubles are over.”

So like it or hate it, this photo of a beautiful, restful Whitney gives us closure.

The fans have spoken.

David Caplan is a New York City-based entertainment and celebrity journalist, whose previous positions include Managing Editor of the TMZ offshoot, TooFab.com, Senior Editor at People Magazine and Star Magazine’s Deputy New York Bureau Chief. He’s also worked at Us Weekly, VH1, WWD and HollywoodLife.com. Currently he runs the Web site GossipDavid.com. A member of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ New York Chapter, he often appears on TV and radio discussing entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter @DavidCaplanNYC

Whitney Houston

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_P6EXDWBOY7JQYX46KM52I3ABZU P00KIE

Why is this so bad? For years, photos have been taken of icons in their caskets, whether it be entertainment or political fields or whatever. It was not wrong then. Why the big deal?
Carlos Machina

If a funeral is open casket, then people are going to see the body. If those planning the funeral don’t want people to see the body, then they shouldn’t open the casket. That seems kind of obvious to me.

Also, it seems like nearly everyone has a camera on them these days. Was that not clear to the funeral organizers?
Anonymous

It’s called respecting the wishes of the family.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=842474569 Parr Wh

She looked at peace and at rest
http://www.madcharles.com/ MadCharles

The National Enquirer published is far less offensive than the product the msm puts out daily.
Anonymous

It was the most peaceful and serene she had looked in years, certainly much better than the last photos of her leaving that last party she attended.
Anonymous

You as a lib who lives on the belief that as long as someone doesn’t say he is against something, it is OK to do, the family never publicly stated that they didn’t want any photos of Whitney in the casket.
Anonymous

Took the words right out of my head. I would rather this be the las photo of her than the ones taken in the days and months before she passed away.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=575189918 Raymond Nieves

We’ve become a nation of ghouls…it’s disgusting!
Anonymous

How do we know she is resting? Might she not be burning in hell for all eternity for all her sins–drugs, poor parenting, and so forth?
Anonymous

Look at the warning pictures the govt. wanted to put on cigarette packages.
Anonymous

I still think its extremely disrespectful to her family. My opinion is the priority should be the feelings of the relatives and then the fans. BTW with the photos of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, what about the pic of River Phoenix in his casket. Reminds of what his father , John said. “Yes I saw my son again. I saw him in a box.” My point is these photos can bring back rather upsetting feelings and memories to their relatives. Finally I feel sorry for fans including me but family comes first.
Anonymous

She might of asked for forgiveness. Can’t rule out that possible. She did start out in Gospel so I hope she wasn’t just mouthing the words but understood them too.
http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

I don’t have a problem with the pic, but your argument is a bit faulty. Pretty sure there’s a reason the photo was a shitty, grainy shot rather than something professional (or even prosumer) taken with a proper DSLR camera. Someone was being stealthy and more than likely used their phone.

Having said that, my next door neighbors have never publicly stated that they don’t want me to take photos of their fenced in back yard, so I reckon I’ll take some snaps and put them on my blog (there’s nothing but a couple of dogs back there, nothing the Enquirer would want to buy).
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000811168746 Denise Young

In the Bible it says that there is not sin greater than another. Her drug use and other sins that she may have committed is judged just the same as some of those who lie on a daily basis, or commit adultery. We humans tend to scale what sin is worst than the next, but God sees them as equal.
Anonymous

Go ahead- make their day. There is NO assumption of privacy once you go outside.
http://goo.gl/LXJ2G MRjimvinnburr

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http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

It’s an analogy, Ted. Would you prefer another one since that one eluded you?
Anonymous

I subscribe to Enquirer and I’d rather be shown at the wake than the 18 pages of Whitney in the Feb.27th issue. They should be more concerned about “us” seeing them instead.We know she died broke so her family should keep quiet if they want her fans to stay around to fill up the coffer again.
Anonymous

Actually- we don’t know she died broke. We only know some people made that claim. Considering she just completed a movie that is to be released in August (unless they move up the date due to her death), she had released an album a couple years ago and had completed a world tour and still owned several homes, it just doesn’t seem likely. Plus her recording of the Star Spangled Banner, which ends up being re-released every time anything happens on a national aspect, because no other artist has ever managed to turn their recording of the Star Spangled Banner into a number one hit that stayed at number one for something like 13 weeks. And she didn’t even try to do that. It just kind of turned out that way because everyone thought she did it so well.
Anonymous

shes more famous in death than she was immediately before she died. she was broke borrowing on an unproduced album and from others who wanted to help her.
now even before she was buried her albums sellout and will probably be in demand for another month or so .
so much drama i was blown away how much time was devoted to her. the same old info from different sources
scallywag

Aren’t you glad some sleazy magazine will always figure how to get its hands on the most private moments imaginable to grieving friends and relatives and somehow manage to bring the joy a few bucks away from your doorstep. Maybe one day if you happen to be an important person you too can hope to see your pitiless soul sunbathing in front of a lap dancing public hungry to get whatever last glimpse they can of you.

Isn’t it time you became a celebrity too?

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/02/whitney-houston-casket-photo-why-we-cant-just-put-the-diva-away-yet/
Anonymous

Why would you need closure for a death of someone you didn’t know? Seems kind of weird to me.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BNDCPVAR3HIRIPPS3Z2V4RFYYQ Shayluv

Sin is Sin!!! Thanks Sis for that comment
http://profile.yahoo.com/JB3DTISFP2UG7RDNDNV77ZN5SM Kristina Georges

thats right let whitney rest pace now and watch over her loved ones