Whitney Houston Funeral Footage Sold to Benefit Bobbi Kristina

Jason Merritt, Getty Images

Whitney Houston may have had one of the most recognizable voices in pop music, which brought her great success, fame and fortune. Apparently, the singer’s financial resources may have dwindled down to almost nothing, since her family sold footage of her celebrity-attended funeral to a variety of global media outlets.

Apparently, the family elected to sell the footage in order to raise money for the singer’s sole heir, daughter Bobbi Kristina, 18. That’s why it would seem that Houston didn’t leave much behind.

The funeral took place on Saturday, Feb. 18 in Houston’s Newark, N.J. hometown. She was eulogized by her ‘The Bodyguard’ co-star Kevin Costner and serenaded by Alicia Keys. The funeral aired on CNN and several online outlets via The Associated Press, but all footage was offline and non-viewable the very next day.

A spokesperson for the family told TMZ that the executors of Houston’s estate “agreed to license footage to several media outlets for customary fees.” Those “customary fees” are being set aside to “maximize the estate for the benefit of Bobbi Kristina.”

Hmm, that sounds like jargon-heavy way to say that Houston was broke and/or didn’t leave much behind for her only child in terms of money. Why else would the family need to sell private footage on Bobbi Kris’ behalf?

At least this money-making endeavor is for a good cause, since Bobbi Kris is in a lot of pain over the loss of her mother at such a young age; Houston was just 48. However, an auction of Houston items is set for next month, and that feels a little tacky and entirely too soon after the pop diva’s death, even though the auction house claims that their sale is helping to preserve the singer’s legacy and history.

Yeah, there’s a better way to preserve Houston’s legacy and history. Those are called albums.