USA Today also reported she was not scheduled to perform.
So, who's right? Because if she wasn't performing at Davis' party, it puts a bit of a crimp in the logic of TMZ's speculative stories that she died from a combination of Xanax and an excessive amount of alcohol, and the alcohol was too willingly supplied by her enabler friends.
According to TMZ, room service delivered a beer and glass of champagne with Whitney's food order. Was all the food and drink for Whitney or was some for the friends, family and staff in her room? We don't know. Would Whitney really have ordered both a hamburger and fries and a turkey sandwich just for herself? Why assume both the can of beer and the champagne were for her?
It sounds more plausible to me that two peple were eating, and one drink was for the person having the burger and fries and the other drink was for whoever was having the turkey sandwich. But TMZ's sources say both meals were for her, and that after eating the burger and fries, she took the turkey sandwich into the bathroom. And the bathroom photo does show an empty tray. (Although no one knows what, if anything, was re-arranged, removed or added in the 15 minutes before the medics arrived.)
If not performing at Davis' party, would Whitney have been nervous enough about simply attending it to take Xanax hours earlier, before she even started having her hair and makeup done? She certainly didn't need it to veg out in the chair -- getting your makeup and hair done takes an hour or more and is a pretty low-key event.
TMZ is speculating that she took Xanax that afternoon and combined it with alcohol. And that because she died, her use was really abuse, which nicely feeds right into its story that Whitney's friends "enabled her" alcohol use, as if they, like Whitney herself, were responsible for her death.
How many times will TMZ refer to the multiple bottles of pills in her room, as if she was a walking pharmacy? Regardless of the number of bottles, TMZ says there were three drugs: Xanax, Amoxicillan (an anti-biotic used for ear or throat infections) and ibuprofen (Advil, which doesn't require a prescription except in large dosages, and even then, it's not mind-altering). But, look at the side-effects of ibuprofen:
People who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (other than aspirin) such as ibuprofen may have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke than people who do not take these medications. These events may happen without warning and may cause death.
Several recent studies link high dosage ibuprofen and heart attacks and strokes.
There was also a bottle of non-prescription Midol, used for menstrual cramps. Were those even Whitney's, who was 48, as opposed to her daughter's or the hair stylist's? Regardless, there was one abusable drug in the room: Xanax. No bottles of alcohol -- just what came up with room service on the lunch order.
Why is the media so intent on tarnishing Whitney Houston's legacy? What happens if the toxicology reports show another cause of death -- and the coroner concludes that she did not die from a combination of Xanax and alcohol? The media will run it a few times, but with nowhere near the intensity with which it speculated to the contrary, and Whitney Houston will forever be remembered first for her substance abuse issues and second for her music.
The answer: just like guilt, substance abuse and drug addiction sells in America. Everybody loves to see someone fall. For a moment they are persuaded that someone else's life is worse than their own and they don't have it so bad after all.
It's nowhere near as sexy or attention-grabbing a story if Whitney died from a combination of alcohol and ibuprofen -- or if she had a heart attack from excessive ibuprofen use -- as it is if she died from a combination of alcohol and xanax. So the media promotes the latter.
Who are the real enablers -- more like panderers -- here: Whitney Houston's friends or media outlets like TMZ? I think hands-down it's the latter.
Whitney Houston's funeral will be broadcast live on television at noon Saturday from New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. Detroit pastor Marvin Winans will deliver the eulogy. Will the media allow viewers to watch the event without the commentary of pundits who will repeat ad nauseum that Whitney Houston had drug and alcohol issues? Don't count on it.
