It didn’t take long after the National Enquirer published a pic of Whitney Houston’s open casket for the backlash to come fast and hard. And it’s not just the tabloid taking the heat. Whigham Funeral Home CEO Carolyn Whigham said she’s received threatening emails, accusing her and her staff of selling the pic, a charge she vehemently denied to the New York Daily News.
“Whitney was a friend,” she told the paper. “I’m the one who flew to Los Angeles and got Whitney from the coroner’s office. I did everything to protect her.” That included having security guard the casket at all times, except when the family had a private viewing, she explained. And even if she weren’t personal friends with the Houston family, Whigham’s other argument for not selling the photo makes a whole lot of sense to us: I’ve been in business since 1943. This is my name, my character. Honestly, this is my life’s work. We would never do something like this.”
She also called the Enquirer’s claims that Whitney was buried with $500,000 of jewelry “crazy” and untrue.
The casket pic is nothing new for the tabloid; check out this interesting review of the Enquirer’s other gruesome post-mortems.
So who did leak the photo? Was it an act of revenge by Bobby Brown after that seating arrangement scuffle? A distant family member looking to cash in? Share your theories in the comments.