Whitney Houston’s former bodyguard — on whom the 1992 cult classic film, “The Bodyguard” was loosely based —is spilling the tea about his time with the late singer and the film...and what he said just might surprise you.
Speaking in a new interview over the weekend with the Daily Mail to promote his forthcoming memoir “Protecting Whitney,” former British policeman David Roberts revealed that the romantic storyline in the movie was drawn from his real-life conflicting feelings for the “I Will Always Love You” singer.
He went on to share that he struggled most with whether or not to act on his feelings when Houston once laid her head on his shoulder to rest. Explaining how that moment tempted him to want to “give up everything” and go for her and the parallels in the film, Roberts said:
If you cross that line, you lose your objectivity, and that makes it dangerous for the person you’re protecting. That was why Frank Farmer [Kevin Costner’s character in ‘The Bodyguard’] and Rachel Marron [Houston’s character] couldn’t be together—he crossed the line and that was the end of him in the capacity of what he was employed to do.
“Much of what was contained in the film, she and I actually lived through. Little details such as Rachel holding onto the back of his shirt to escape crowds of fans. That was how we did it,” he continued.
Despite those temporary feelings, Roberts maintained that he always took his job seriously and shared how many of the threats Houston faced early on in her career mostly came from “men who felt let down, embittered and cheated.”
“I put myself between her and those threats. ‘You want to get to Whitney? Go ahead and try, see what happens,’” he said.
In an interview with The Guardian back in 2017, Roberts also opened up about working with Houston and shared that he initially didn’t want to take on the job due to his preconceived notions of the industry and stars like her. But thankfully, due to her “warm and funny” personality, he soon changed his tune.
“I was singularly impressed by her. The stereotypical attitudes I had of that industry were completely dissipated by this sophisticated young lady,” he said.