If you read the internet or social media over the past couple of days, you may have been led to believe that Madonna and Whitney Houston were feuding with each other, and that Madonna even “recently” announced that Houston was mediocre.
It all started with a private letter that was allegedly written in the early 1990s by Madonna, and it was reported to be written to her then boyfriend John Enos. Sites such as BET have reported the alleged letter without context or verification and have revealed Madonna’s unflattering feelings.
“It’s so unequivocally frustrating to read that Whitney Houston has the music career I wish I had, and Sharon Stone has the film career I’ll never have. Not because I want to be these women because I’d rather die, but they’re so horribly mediocre and they’re always being held up as paragons of virtue or some sort of measuring stick to humiliate me.”
There is just one problem. The letter, if it is even legit, was written in early 1993 — not recently as some would have you believe. This was a very disturbing time for Madonna. She had just released her book Sex , her album Erotica , and her movie Body of Evidence to scorching reviews that led to one of the most hateful backlashes in entertainment history. In his 2001 unauthorized biography Madonna , Andrew Morton, whose book revealed things fans wouldn’t know as real until 10 years later, revealed that Madonna was actually receiving death threats at the time.
It’s also important to note that Whitney Houston and the other woman the letter is aimed at, Sharon Stone, had ruthlessly bashed Madonna in the early 1990s. In her interviews, Whitney talked about different things she would do to her kids if they turned out like Madonna. She, like others, thought Madonna was ruthlessly sexual and had a dirty mouth. Still, that didn’t matter to Twitter.
Madonna calling Whitney Houston mediocre is what every white woman does when they realize they don’t have the range.
— Ti Bab (@MicGriPpeR) July 14, 2017
Whitney about to drag Madonna from heaven like : pic.twitter.com/pOL0JesUNS
— treyonceeee (@treyonceeee) July 14, 2017
Even more important is the fact that after 1995, both Madonna and Houston left their feud behind and became admirers of each other. In 1995, Whitney notoriously sent Madonna flowers as she faced her stalker on trial in 1995. Then, at the end of the 1990s, a YouTube clip reveals how Whitney defended Madonna when a reporter tried to bait her into bashing the Queen of Pop .
Madonna praised Whitney’s talents all through the 2000s, but she really laid it all out to the Sun after Houston’s death in 2012.
“One thing I was struck by with Whitney Houston is I remember she sort of came out as a singer around the same time I did,” Madonna said, adding that she thought Whitney was beautiful and had an incredible voice.
Some think that Madonna and Whitney’s mutual admiration of each other as they grew up is being overlooked in a click-bait attempt to, once again, pit two women against each other. Madonna has yet to say if the letter is legit or not, though, according to Boy Culture , John Enos denies ever receiving the letter.
Madonna isn’t taking this all lightly. According to the New York Daily News , she has filed a lawsuit to stop the auction of her letters , legit or not, from taking place. This should get interesting, and we will soon find out who is behind all of this.
[Featured Image by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]