“Kevin Costner to Honor Whitney Houston at Memorial Following Heartfelt Call from Dionne Warwick”

Kevin Costner revealed that he was persuaded to speak at Whitney Houston’s memorial after an emotional call from music legend Dionne Warwick.

The 69-year-old star of Yellowstone formed a close bond with Houston while portraying her love interest in the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Their friendship lasted two decades until her untimely death at 48 in 2012.

Costner was one of eight speakers at her funeral, which included her sister-in-law and manager Patricia Houston, as well as Warwick. Initially, Costner chose to mourn Houston privately, but he couldn’t turn down Warwick’s heartfelt request to contribute to the public tributes.

In an interview with People, Costner shared that he wasn’t inclined to “rush to the mic” following Houston’s passing. However, he sensed Warwick’s pain during their conversation. “I said yes to her when I had been saying no all week,” he recalled. “I heard in her voice how tired she was, how many decisions she was probably having to make… I just said, ‘Yes.’”

Despite his commitment, Costner began to doubt his decision after hanging up. “I thought, ‘Why am I speaking? I was just her imaginary bodyguard,’” he said. Even on the day of the memorial at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, he considered asking other A-listers, including Diane Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey, to take his place. “I remember looking back and seeing them together, thinking, ‘Can you do my speech?’” he admitted.

Ultimately, Costner delivered a heartfelt 17-minute eulogy, refusing to shorten it for TV broadcasters. “I had been working on this speech… and I wanted to make sure I included everything I felt,” he explained on a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast. “When someone suggested I cut it down for CNN, I said, ‘They can get over that. They can play the commercial while I’m talking; I don’t care.’”

Reflecting on the atmosphere at the church, he described it as electric, with two bands performing, creating an unforgettable environment. “It was alive. It was like, boom!”