Kevin Costner Will Speak At Whitney Houston's Funeral; funeral to be broadcast live on internet

With a soundtrack that sold a whopping 42 million copies worldwide, Whitney Houston's first movie, "The Bodyguard," was a smash hit that raked in over $400 million at the box office internationally. Now former "Bodyguard" Kevin Costner, 57, is reportedly speaking at his late co-star's funeral, joining longtime producer Clive Davis and Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, who will sing at the service.


Houston was found dead last Saturday in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, California, at age 48. It was announced yesterday that her funeral, to be held in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, will be broadcast live online.


Costner played a Secret Service agent in the unforgettable 1992 romantic-thriller that pulled a page from real life and cast Houston as a megawatt singer and Costner as the man who must protect her, with a helping of true love on the side. The movie helped to firmly establish Houston as one of the world's preeminent singers, featuring five hit singles, including a career-defining performance of "I Will Always Love You" (embedded below).


With a soundtrack that sold a whopping 42 million copies worldwide, Whitney Houston's first movie, "The Bodyguard," was a smash hit that raked in over $400 million at the box office internationally. Now former "Bodyguard" Kevin Costner, 57, is reportedly speaking at his late co-star's funeral, joining longtime producer Clive Davis and Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, who will sing at the service.


Houston was found dead last Saturday in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, California, at age 48. It was announced yesterday that her funeral, to be held in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, will be broadcast live online.


Costner played a Secret Service agent in the unforgettable 1992 romantic-thriller that pulled a page from real life and cast Houston as a megawatt singer and Costner as the man who must protect her, with a helping of true love on the side. The movie helped to firmly establish Houston as one of the world's preeminent singers, featuring five hit singles, including a career-defining performance of "I Will Always Love You" (embedded below).

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UPDATE:  Fans worldwide who want to bid Whitney Houston farewell will be able to watch her private funeral on the Internet.

Her publicist, Kristen Foster, announced that The Associated Press will be allowed a camera at the Saturday ceremony in Newark, N.J. The AP will stream the service.  The event also will be available to broadcasters via satellite. http://livestream.com/aplive

Houston was born in Newark. She died in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday at the age of 48. Her body was flown back to her native New Jersey on Monday.

The hearse that carries Whitney Houston.

The service will be at New Hope Baptist Church, where she sang as a child. She will be buried in Fair View Cemetery in Westfield, where her father, John Russell Houston Jr., was buried in 2003.