the bodyguard movie

Marriage to Bobby Brown and The Bodyguard

Throughout the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to American football star Randall Cunningham and actor Eddie Murphy, whom she dated.^[48] She then met R&B singer Bobby Brown (formerly of New Edition) at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. After a three year courtship, the two were married on July 18, 1992. Nearly a year later, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, her first (and as it turned out, only) child, his fourth, on 4 March. Brown would go on to have several run-ins with the law, including some jail time.^[49] With the huge successes of her albums, movie offers poured in, including offers to work with Robert De Niro, Quincy Jones, and Spike Lee; but Houston felt the time wasn't right.^[48] Houston’s first film role was in The Bodyguard, released in 1992 and co-starring Kevin Costner. Houston plays Rachel Marron, a star who is stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard to protect her. The film was hugely successful at the box office, grossing more than $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide. USA Today listed it as one of the 25 most memorable movie moments of the last 25 years.^[50] The movie is also notable for not mentioning or needing to explain its interracial aspect. Houston's mainstream appeal allowed people to look at the movie color-blind.^[51] Still, controversy arose as some felt the film's ads intentionally hid Houston's face to hide the film's interracial aspect. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1993, the singer correctly commented that "people know who Whitney Houston is—I'm black. You can't hide that fact."^[15] Houston received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress. The Washington Post said Houston is "doing nothing more than playing Houston, comes out largely unscathed if that is possible in so cockamamie an undertaking",^[52] and The New York Times said she lacked passion with her co-star.^[53] Despite the film's mixed reviews, it went on to experience commercial success; grossing more than $121 million in the United States and $410 million worldwide, making it one of the top 100 grossing films domestically at its time of release, though it has since lost this accolade.^[54]

The film's soundtrack was also a worldwide success. Houston executive produced and contributed six songs for the motion picture's adjoining soundtrack album. It featured production from David Foster. Entertainment Weekly said the two cover songs are "artistically satisfying".^[55] Rolling Stone said it is "nothing more than pleasant, tasteful and urbane".^[56] The soundtrack's lead single was "I Will Always Love You", written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1974. Some, including Foster and radio programers, were skeptical that the song would fare well at radio due to Houston's a capella intro.^[57] Still, the record company took the risk and released it as the first single and it became a massive international hit. The single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a then-record-breaking 14 weeks, number one on the R&B chart for a then-record-breaking 11 weeks, and number one on the Adult Contemporary charts for five weeks, thus becoming the first single to top those three charts simultaneously for five weeks. The song also hit number-one in nearly every other country worldwide. The soundtrack debuted at #1 and remained there for twenty non-consecutive weeks and became one of the fastest selling albums ever. At one point the soundtrack sold over a million copies within a week, becoming the first album to do so.^[58] With the follow-up singles "I'm Every Woman", a Chaka Khan cover, and "I Have Nothing" both peaking in the top five, Houston became the first female artist to ever have three singles in the Top 20 simultaneously.^[59] The album was certified 17x platinum in the United States^[60] with worldwide sales of 42 million.^[61] Houston won three Grammys for the album, including two of the Academy's highest honors, Album of the Year and Record of the Year. In addition, Houston won 8 American Music Awards, including the Award of Merit, and a BRIT award. Following the success of the project, Houston embarked on another expansive global tour in 1993 and 1994. Her concerts, movie, and recording grosses made her the third highest earning female entertainer of 1993-1994, just behind Oprah Winfrey and Barbra Streisand according to Forbes.^[62] Houston placed in the top five of Entertainment Weekly's annual "Entertainer of the Year" ranking ^[63] and was labeled by Premier Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood.^[64]

In October 1994, Houston was invited to perform at a state dinner at the White House honoring newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela.^[65] At the end of her world tour, Houston performed three concerts in South Africa to honor President Mandela, playing to over 200,000 people. This would make the singer the first major musician to visit the newly unified and apartheid free nation following Mandela's winning election.^[66] The event was considered the nation's "biggest media event since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela"