BEVERLY HILLS, California-Whitney Houston mixed a deadly combination of the antidepressant Xanax and alcohol hours before her body was discovered in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Sat afternoon, investigators say., and the media are having a field day with that data, elevating the pop superstar to an even higher celebrity status than she enjoyed in the years before the aftermath of her untimely death.
"This is too common a story now in America, the epidemic of prescription drugs," U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) said on a CNN talk show Wed. evening. "There is money all the way down the supply chains from the manufacturer to the doctors."
Houston's body was flown to her hometown from the California Hilton where she was staying for what would have been her attendance at the Sat. evening pre-Grammy Awards party thrown by music industry executive Clive Davis, her one time mentor.
Friends and family will gather Sat. to say farewell at The New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, the family's church, and the venue that helped to shape Houston's career.
Celebrities scheduled to attend funeral services, which will broadcast live on CNN, include Houston's close cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, and her godmother, Aretha Franklin.
Whitney Houston
The diva, who has publicly battled substance abuse such as cocaine and alcohol for the past decade in a half and was a recovering drug addict, was witnessed drinking heavily days before her death and even the night before at the hotel where she reportedly complained that her drinks had been watered down, and guests allegedly complained of her erratic behavior.
As news that subpoenas went out to Houston's doctors for her medical records, talk show hosts, bloggers and the widespread media community took to the Internet and the airwaves with feminist personalities like CNN's Jane Velez and Nancy Grace already blaming Houston's doctors for her death.
"Who murdered Whitney?" asked Grace during a segment on her show earlier this week.
Another popular question is whether Houston's ex husband Bobby Brown is barred from the funeral, a suspicion heightened because of his turbulent relationship with the star, who had accused him of domestic violence on several occasions before she divorced him in 2007.
All indicators suggest no to that question, since Brown is the father of Houston's 18-year old daughter Bobbie Kristina Brown, and also because Houston's mother, gospel singer Sissy Houston, is a deeply religious woman.
President Barack Obama urged Bobbie Kristina Brown to stay strong as she grieves the loss of her mother, and so has singer Janet Jackson, whose famed brother Michael Jackson died in 2009 of a drug overdose.
Jackson told CNN that "there is not a day that goes by that I do not think of my brother, and my brothers and sisters say they feel that way too."
Also an actress and producer, Houston sold more than $170 million albums, singles, cd's and video's worldwide.
She took home six Grammy's in her career and a host of other awards, and is best known for the billboard hits "I Will Always Love You,' "You Give Good Love", "I'm Every Woman," and The Greatest Love of All."
