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Oprah Winfrey has revealed how her power of persuasion once saved the late Whitney Houston from public humiliation.
Reflecting on the influence The Oprah Winfrey Show had, the host, 72, claimed she once sweet talked her audience into not releasing footage after the singer fell off the stage mid-performance.
Speaking at Cannes Lions, per Deadline, Winfrey said she knew that Houston's embarrassing tumble could have ended her career so she swooped in to save her from ruin.
'I had such trust from The Oprah Show audience,' Winfrey said at Cannes Lions, per Deadline.
'The first interview I did with [Houston] ... she was clean, but the day she came to perform in front of the audience she was not and she fell off the stage.'
Winfrey said she knew Houston would be 'destroyed' if the story were to get out.
Oprah Winfrey has revealed that she once begged her audience to not release tapes of Whitney Houston falling off stage. She's seen earlier this month
Houston, who experienced numerous well-publicized drug battles, died of an accidental drowning in her bathtub at The Beverly Hilton February 11, 2012, aged 48 (pictured 2001)
'Even though the audience had cameras, I begged them not to put those pictures out because it would ruin her life, and they did not,' she added. 'That would not happen today.'
The Oprah Winfrey Show ran for 25 seasons from September 1986 to May 2011 and aired 4,561 episodes.
To date, it remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in American television history.
Houston, who experienced numerous well-publicized drug battles, died of an accidental drowning in her bathtub at The Beverly Hilton February 11, 2012, aged 48.
Before her untimely death, she had been to rehab at least three times - in 2004, 2005 and 2011 - but struggled to stay sober.
In 2000, Houston was fired from a planned performance at the Academy Awards because of her erratic behavior during rehearsals.
Two years later the singer admitted to having used alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pills during an interview with Diane Sawyer. But she insisted her troubles were all in the past.
Houston appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show multiple times - in 1998, 1999 and 2009.
Houston gave a two-part interview with Winfrey in 2009 in what would be one of her last
Winfrey fronted her titular show for 25 seasons from September 1986 to May 2011
Before her untimely death, Houston (pictured in 1999) had been to rehab at least three times - in 2004, 2005 and 2011 - but struggled to stay sober
By 2009, in what would be one of her final interviews, Houston told Winfrey that drug use had been an everyday thing for her since the mid-1990s.
Elsewhere during the two-part interview, they discussed the artist's turbulent marriage to Bobby Brown.
They also spoke about her struggles with substance abuse and her return to the stage.
Talking about her drug use, Houston said: 'We were lacing our marijuana with base. We weren't on crack. We weren't on no crack stuff.
'We weren't buying $20 jumbos. We were paying money. We were buying kilos and ounces and ounces. We would have our stash.'
She went onto describe her addiction as 'painful.'
'Sometimes you do have a good time,' she said. 'But when it gets to the point where you're sitting in your home and you're just trying to cover what you don't want people to know.
'It's painful. And then you want more just so that you don't let anybody see you cry. Or anybody to see we're not happy.'
English (US) ·