Kevin Costner Reflects on Lost Love: His Deep Regrets About Whitney Houston

When Whitney Houston passed away in February 2012, fans were taken aback when Kevin Costner, her co-star from The Bodyguard, delivered a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. Many didn’t realize that the bond formed on set more than two decades earlier had endured all those years.

At the time of her death at 48, Costner made a deeply emotional public statement that hinted at the depth of their connection. “I let her down. I should have been there, and I wasn’t,” he admitted. “And now for the rest of my life, I will have to live with that pain. I saved her then; I should have saved her now. She was my one true love. I still have ‘I Will Always Love You’ as my ringtone — and every time someone laughs at it, I take it as a badge of honor.”

Just a week later, Costner gave a moving 17-minute eulogy that revealed his heartfelt affection for Houston. “You weren’t just pretty — you were as beautiful as a woman could be. And people didn’t just like you, Whitney — they loved you,” he told the mourners. “I was your pretend bodyguard once, not so long ago, and now you’re gone too soon, leaving us with memories of a little girl who stepped bravely in front of this church, in front of the ones who loved you first, loved you best, and loved you the longest.”

Behind the scenes, Costner tried to support Houston through her struggles with addiction and her tumultuous relationship with Bobby Brown. In an interview with Anderson Cooper later that year, he revealed he had written her letters of encouragement over the years, though he wasn’t sure if she ever read them.

“There are people who truly loved Whitney, and sometimes over the last seven or eight years, they’d ask me to write to her,” he shared. “She was always close to my heart. When someone asks you to write a letter to a person you know is going through something… I did it,” he said. “But I don’t know if she ever saw them.”

Costner also reflected on their time filming The Bodyguard, revealing how protective he felt of her performance. “I started to guide her,” he explained. “I wasn’t trying to take over from our director, but I had made a promise to her — not to him. I told her she would be great in this, and that was my word to her. That’s what ‘I Will Always Love You’ meant.”

Even now, Costner’s affection for Houston remains evident. Though he couldn’t rescue her from the battles she faced, it’s clear her family trusted him and recognized the genuine care he always had for her.