As Kevin Costner turns 70, he remembers his once costar Whitney Houston.
On his birthday, Jan. 18, Costner shared a photo to his Instagram Stories of himself and Houston on the set of 1992’s “The Bodyguard,” in which the pair costarred. The photo originated from Houston’s account, which is run by her estate.
“This photo reminds me of how lucky I am to be getting another birthday,” Costner wrote in the post. “We lost such a light when we lost Whitney.”
Houston died at age 48 on Feb. 11, 2012. She would’ve been 61 this year.
In the photo, Costner and Houston are joined by hairstylist Ellin LaVar.
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“Happy birthday to Kevin Costner!,” read the photo’s caption. “A behind the scenes photo from ‘The Bodyguard’ with Kevin, Whitney and Ellin LaVar, Whitney’s hairstylist for the film.”
In June of 2024, Costner said that when speaking at Houston’s funeral in 2012, he refused to shorten his 17-mintue eulogy so that television networks like CNN could air commercials during the broadcast.
“I had been working on this speech…and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech,” Costner said. “Somebody said, ‘CNN’s here, they wouldn’t mind if your remarks were kept shorter because they’re going to have commercials.’ And I said, ‘They can get over that. They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care.’”
He continued, “I could feel the weight on her, now it’s shifted to me. What am I going to say about this little girl? [I] went back to that church in Newark and it was filled. It was electric. There were two bands playing, the church was alive. It was like, boom!”