The Sad Irony of Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston died today at age 48.

And as it was with Michael Jackson, Gary Coleman, Don Cornelius, and any of the other stars who died in the recent past, we gloss over her troubles in polite conversation and choose to remember her as the radiantly beautiful and brilliantly talented superstar she was.  And rightly so.  She was the elegant and regal talent for a much longer span than she was the obviously drugged-out caricature of herself.  And the entertainment world, the world in general loses a light.

I do find it very interesting, sadly ironic, that the woman who sang of the virtues of learning to love yourself self-destructed so spectacularly and publicly over the last 10 to 12 years of her life.  Whitney Houston became the poster child for the evils of drug addiction and fallen stars.  She went from this:

to this:

Fans will blame Bobby Brown as being the chief negative influence in her life, but that doesn't really matter, does it.  We Mourn Whitney Houston for the talent that she was, not the bad decisions that robbed her of it.