Celine Dion talks Whitney Houston, drugs on ‘Good Morning America’

Erik Kabik/Retna/ErikKabik.com

Celine Dion’s opening night at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on March 15, 2011.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 | 10:58 a.m.

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Caesars Palace headliner Celine Dion spoke candidly about her fear of drugs when she paid tribute this morning to singer Whitney Houston on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I am so scared,” Celine Dion said on “GMA.” “I’m scared of show business. I’m scared of drugs. I’m scared of hanging out.”

“That’s why I don’t do parties and I don’t hang out,” she said. “That’s why I’m not part of show business. We have to be afraid.”

During the “GMA” phone interview, Celine acknowledged the impact Whitney’s music had on her own career and spoke of the hold drugs now have on entertainers and the music industry.

“When you think about Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, to get into drugs like that, for whatever reason,” she said. “Is it because of the stress and bad influence? What happens when you have everything? What happens when you have love, support, the family, motherhood? You have responsibilities of a mother, and then something happens, and it destroys everything.”

Whitney was found dead Saturday in her Beverly Hilton Hotel room in Los Angeles preparing for Sunday night’s Grammy Awards. The 48-year-old songbird was reportedly discovered with her head submerged in the water of her hotel room bathtub.

The ABC News report said that family sources were briefed by L.A. County Coroner officials who said Whitney, who had a history of drug and alcohol addiction, probably died from a combination Xanax and other prescription medication mixed with alcohol.

“Whitney has been an amazing inspiration for me,” Celine continued. “It’s just really unfortunate that drugs, bad people or bad influence took over. It took over her dreams. It took over her love and motherhood.”

Celine, 43, is the mother of three sons and herself the youngest of 14 children. She has long credited her family with keeping her on track.

Her husband, Rene Angelil, has managed her career since she was 12, and her brother is her stage manager. Her stepson is her road manager, and her sister is the family’s live-in babysitter, she told “GMA.”

Whitney leaves behind her 18-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina, who was herself taken to a hospital Sunday for treatment for exhaustion and anxiety. Whitney’s family was a famous one, with her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, her aunt, singer Dionne Warwick, and her godmother, singer Aretha Franklin. Dionne and Whitney had reportedly talked about how they would dress and sit together for Sunday night’s awards.

“She’s had a family. So what happens?” Celine also said this morning. “How come drugs are stronger than all that? Stronger than family, than motherhood, than love itself? What’s going on?”

“Taking pills to go perform and taking pills to wake up and taking pills to go to bed. It’s so unfortunate,” she said. “I’ve always said you have to have fun and do music, and you can never be part of show business because you don’t know what it’s going to get yourself into. You have to do your work and get out of there.”

Our thanks to ABC News for the “GMA” excerpt.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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