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NANCY GRACE

Whitney`s Bodyguard Prohibited Baths for Fear of Drowning

Aired February 14, 2012 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. We are live, LA. American songbird superstar Whitney Houston dead, LA`s Beverly Hilton, Houston allegedly found submerged under water, her lungs swimming. As we wait for those toxicology results, who was responsible for pumping her beautiful songbird body full of powerful drugs?

Bombshell tonight. Was Houston spotted alive just one hour before her sudden death? And what was she doing? Reports that hundreds partied the night away while the body of Whitney Houston remained just above them. In fact, reports say the Beverly Hilton insisting the body not be transported to the ME`s until the party was over.

We learn the singer`s former bodyguard would not allow Houston to take baths, only allowing showers with checks every seven minutes on Whitney Houston. Reports tonight of a deadly mix of powerful sedatives found in the singer`s system, Beverly PD stating nothing is ruled out when asked if homicide had been ruled out. According to "The Daily Mail," is Houston`s Atlanta townhome set to be searched? And why?

Houston`s body flying from LA to Newark for an invite-only funeral. Amid claims of over-the-top behavior, wild spending, illicit drug use, what is the COD -- the cause of death -- of America`s beloved songbird, Whitney Houston?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: Nobody makes me do anything I don`t want to do. It`s my decision, so the biggest devil is me. I`m either my best friend or worst enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whitney Houston has died. The Grammy-winning entertainer was just 48 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and to pay a tribute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cause of death is deferred pending toxicology.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have some new details about the investigation into her death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Information from a former bodyguard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They didn`t allow her to take baths. They didn`t want her to stay in the bathroom for long periods of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston never did drugs in front of him, but says he would see their effect on her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever was going on was not something that was control.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This says $730,000 drug habit.

HOUSTON: $730,000? I want to see the receipts from the drug dealer that I bought $730,000 worth of drugs from. I want to see the receipts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her behavior at the hotel was erratic, according to "The Los Angeles Times," which says Houston was seen skipping around a ballroom and doing handstands near the hotel pool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whitney was partying. She was happy. She was sober, maybe a little tipsy because she had some champagne.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m not losing you to the world. I`m not losing you to Satan. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want my daughter back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whitney Houston will be remembered as much for her personal demons as her success.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Mommy. I love you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. You`re seeing video from ABC`s "Good Morning America," "Oprah," and Twitter.

Bombshell tonight. Was Whitney spotted alive just one hour before her sudden death? If so, what was she doing? Tonight, reports of a deadly mix of powerful sedatives found in the singer`s system. Police stating nothing is ruled out when asked if homicide had been ruled out. And why did a former bodyguard absolutely disallow Houston from taking baths, only allowing her to take showers, and even then, checking on her up to every seven minutes?

Houston`s body flying on a private jet from LA all the way to Newark, New Jersey, for an invite-only funeral

We are taking your calls. Straight out to Dylan Howard, senior executive editor, Radaronline and "Star." Dylan, what can you tell me about reports regarding multiple bottles of benzodiazepams found in Whitney Houston`s hotel room?

DYLAN HOWARD, RADARONLINE.COM & "STAR": Well, Nancy, we`re getting preliminary information from that toxicology record -- which, incidentally, the final findings won`t be released for some four to six weeks. But we are learning that benzodiazepines have been found in her system, this in addition to information we received that Whitney Houston was using other drugs such as Xanax, Valium and Lorazepam in her final few days. That mixed with the alcohol that we saw...

GRACE: Well, hold on. Hold on.

HOWARD: ... from photos inside her room...

GRACE: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait! Dylan Howard, Xanax, Valium, what was the last one you said, Diazepam? All of those are benzos.

HOWARD: Lorazepam.

GRACE: Lorazepam. Let me go quickly out to Dr. Bill Lloyd, board- certified surgeon and pathologist, joining us tonight. Dr. Lloyd, Xanax, Valium, and the last one Dylan mentioned -- they are all benzodiazepams. What doctor...

DR. BILL LLOYD, SURGEON AND PATHOLOGIST: They certainly are, Nancy.

GRACE: ... in their right mind...

LLOYD: Xanax, Valium, Attivan...

GRACE: ... would give one patient three benzos?

LLOYD: ... and (INAUDIBLE) Xanax is the most commonly prescribed and the most commonly abused benzodiazepam.

GRACE: But what I`m asking, Dr. Lloyd, is what doctor in their right mind would give one patient three different benzodiazepines? Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it`s VIP medicine, Nancy. If you have the money, you can get whatever you want from as many doctors as you want, from as many drug stores as you want, because you`re paying cash.

GRACE: Well, Dr. Lloyd, what are the street names of the benzos? And what does it mean if one doctor gave her all of those prescriptions?

LLOYD: Sure. Once again, the big drugs are Xanax, Librium, Attivan and Valium. They`re all in the same chemical family. Xanax is slightly stronger than the others. But if you`re not a pharmacist and these pills make you feel better, you start mixing them up. And lo and behold, you`re overdosing yourself. Your body can tolerate it up to a point, but when you add alcohol to the mix, that`s when the real trouble starts.

GRACE: OK, hold on, all my guests. I want to go back to Lloyd for another question. You mentioned about when your body is used to taking all of these drugs -- right now, there are two schools of thought, that Whitney Houston died of a drug overdose or that Whitney Houston had a heart attack. How is it that a young person, a fairly young person like Whitney Houston, could die of a heart attack? And what`s the connection to long-term drug use?

LLOYD: The long-term drug use leads to tolerance. Your body gets used to the drugs, so you need to take more drugs to get the same effects. The same thing works for people who drink alcohol on a chronic basis. You need more to get that same high.

Now, if you take a sufficient amount of the drug, then it`s going to have severe complications to your body and it will make you severely sedated, very tired. And that`s where the bathtub and the drowning scenario comes in.

GRACE: Back to Dylan Howard, senior executive editor, Radaronline and "Star." Dylan, pick up where you left off. You were telling me about the three benzos. Go ahead.

HOWARD: Indeed. And Dr. Lloyd`s right. Those drugs mixed together with alcohol could potentially have provided the lethal cocktail. And when I talk about alcohol, this is what was found in her room, her last meal, said to have included a glass of champagne. And also photographed in that room, as we understand it, was a bottle of beer. Consumed with those drugs, was it the lethal cocktail? That we don`t know.

But what we`ve been able to establish is that two nights earlier, on the Thursday night, she was at a nightclub here in Hollywood called True (ph), where she was also drinking champagne, the next night at the hotel bar. That with these prescription drugs could have been the vital dose.

GRACE: We`re seeing shots inside the Beverly Hilton. To Allison Samuels, senior writer, "Newsweek," had become the confidante of Whitney Houston.

We`re going to go to Samuels very quickly, but Ellie Jostad, these shots that we`re seeing in Houston`s room -- was there a sitting room, apparently, outside of her bedroom, outside of her bathroom? Who, if anybody, was with her? And who do -- have we isolated who found the singer dead?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Well, Nancy, this was a suite at the Beverly Hilton. And we have confirmed -- CNN has confirmed from a family source that it was an assistant of Houston`s, a woman they call Aunt Mary -- her name`s Mary Jones. She`s the woman who found Houston`s body.

GRACE: And Ellie Jostad, what can you tell me about Whitney Houston`s bodyguard that absolutely would not allow her to take a bath? No way. She had to take a shower. And she would be checked on every couple of minutes if she was even taking a shower. And when did those rules fly out the window?

JOSTAD: Right. Well, this is somebody that "Newsweek`s" Allison Samuels spoke. It`s a guy who was a bodyguard for Whitney Houston until about a year ago. He says that they were worried that something could happen in the bathtub. She could fall asleep, something could happen while she was in the bathroom alone.

So they wouldn`t let her take baths. They made her take showers, and even then, they would go in and check on her every seven to ten minutes. Now, this bodyguard told "Newsweek" that she had a lot of new people working for her, and they might not have been following the protocol.

GRACE: Joining me right now from the church where the funeral is scheduled to go down, Dorothy Cascerceri, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly." Dorothy, thank you for being with us.

Explain to me the logistics of flying Whitney Houston`s body via private jet from LA all the way to Newark. Was the body alone? Was it attended? That signals to me that the medical examiner doesn`t need her body anymore. They`re simply waiting on toxicology reports. What do you know, Dorothy?

DOROTHY CASCERCERI, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": We know that Whitney`s body was flown from LA here to Newark late last night. We know that it was Tyler Perry`s private jet. He leant his jet for the cause. There are also reports that her cousin, Dionne Warwick, accompanied the body here. The body was taken to Whigham`s (ph) Funeral Home, and where her mother, Cissy Houston, was waiting for it.

So you know, they`re getting ready for all the services this weekend. I`m standing right outside of the New Hope Baptist church, where Whitney got her start as a young singer and where her funeral will be on Saturday morning.

GRACE: Dorothy Cascerceri joining us, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly," I heard you say Dionne Warwick, but you cut out on me. What did you say?

CASCERCERI: There were reports that Dionne Warwick accompanied the body to New Jersey, to Newark here. They`re unconfirmed, but that is -- there are some reports out there stating that.

GRACE: Joining me right now is Allison Samuels, senior writer with "Newsweek," had become the confidante of Whitney Houston`s. Allison, thank you for being with us. At this hour, what are you being told, Allison. You literally became a part of the death story. What happened?

ALLISON SAMUELS, "NEWSWEEK": Well, at this hour -- I mean, Dionne Warwick did accompany the body to Newark. That is one thing I do know. And at this hour, you know, they`re just trying to get it together. They really are sort of going back and forth on whether or not to have a private funeral or a public funeral. But they decided, you know, on the private funeral because the family is grieving so intensely.

Cissy Houston in particular is just taking this incredibly hard, and so is Bobbi Kristina. So they really just sort of need this time.

And for me to be a part of it in the sense of being there when she actually passed away is still something I`m really trying to sort of come to grips with, come to terms with.

GRACE: Allison Samuels, senior writer, "Newsweek," a confidante of Whitney Houston`s, I am learning now that her bodyguard disallowed baths. And I`m wondering, when did that rule go by the wayside? What happened? And why was she disallowed baths? And when she did take a shower, Allison, she was checked on.

SAMUELS: Right. They basically instilled that rule over the course of the years, of sort of realizing some of the issues that she had. It wasn`t just the security, it was everybody in place on this. These are her stylists, her makeup artists. Everybody understood that she didn`t need to take baths. They were concerned about her falling asleep in the tub. They also decided she need to take showers and that when she took showers, they would check on her periodically to make sense -- you know, to make sure that she was OK.

When Whitney changed some of the people around her, those rules sort of fell by the wayside. And so many people, the stylist and the makeup artist and the security guard, are extremely upset because they feel, like, you know, just going in there 10 minutes after she had gone in and knocking on the door would have saved her life.

Why they would let her stay in there an hour, knowing some of the issues she`d had over the years, it`s just, you know, amazing to them that they would allow that to happen, knowing what the risks were.

GRACE: Allison Samuels just reported that with Whitney Houston`s dead, wet body out of the bathtub, laying upstairs on the floor, the party raged on a couple of floors below her. Why?

SAMUELS: A couple of different reasons. I think the main reason is that police wanted to make sure that they didn`t have another Michael Jackson incident. They really, really wanted to make sure they got every bit of evidence, that they investigated the scene very thoroughly and had no interruptions and had no, you know, sort of people coming in and out. That was incredibly important to the police.

Also, they had to sort of find a way to get Whitney out without sort of taking her through the hotel and through everything that was going on downstairs.

GRACE: Allison, were you at the party?

SAMUELS: No, I actually spent a great deal of that time after learning of her death, you know, just trying to sort of report, talk to people on the outside, talk to people in security. I actually saw people going in, saw Diddy, saw all those people going in, but I didn`t attend the party, no.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The champagne was flowing. It was a party. And I`ve heard so many things about people saying that, you know, she was erratic, she was this, she was that. She was none of those things. And I have to go hard on making sure that people understand. It was a good...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live here in LA, covering the death of American songbird Whitney Houston, right now still waiting on formal results from the medical examiner, toxicology results still pending.

We are taking your calls. But I want to go back to Allison Samuels joining us, senior writer, "Newsweek. It seems as if everyone around her was very familiar with Whitney`s problems. And what I`m trying to determine -- who was with her? How many bottles of benzodiazepam did she have? And how many doctors were giving her the pills, or was it just one doctor? What, if anything, do we know, Allison?

SAMUELS: Well, she had a variety of people around her. Her, you know, sister-in-law, Donna -- she was here. She had her stylist, she had makeup artists, she had a lot of people with her here. And obviously, her daughter was with her.

As far as the prescriptions, they`re very clear -- the police were very clear there weren`t many. But you have to keep in mind, for someone like Whitney, who had the problems she had, she didn`t have to take much. It only took one or two pills or one or two Xanax to sort of cause her to sort of fall back into a very bad habit. So I think it wasn`t such a matter -- so much a matter of how many, but the fact that she had them at all that caused so many problems.

And it seemed to be a variety of problems, not just one particular doctor, and a doctor here, a doctor, you know, in Atlanta. She had a variety of different doctors that had prescribed her pills.

GRACE: And speaking of Atlanta, to Jane Velez-Mitchell, host, HLN`s "Issues" -- Jane, the reality is that, according to "The Daily News," there`s a chance that Whitney Houston`s Atlanta townhouse will be searched. What do you make of it?

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST, HLN`S "JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL": Well, let me say this. They have said there is no sign of foul play, but that doesn`t mean that they couldn`t decide something later, Nancy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Legendary recording artist Whitney Houston found dead by her bodyguard in her Beverly Hills hotel room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently discovered in her bathtub by a member of her personal staff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no visible signs of trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We dig for more answers into her shocking death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hurts. It really hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are here live in LA, bringing you the latest in the death of American songbird Whitney Houston. Straight out to special guest joining us, Dorothy Cascerceri, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly," there at the church where Houston`s invite-only funeral set to be held.

Where is Bobby Brown? Now, a lot of people on the outside looking in -- repeat, outside looking in -- say Whitney Houston was unspoiled, with a voice like a bird. She was the first woman, as I recall, African-American woman, to grace the cover of "17" magazine. She was discovered singing. She had been a singer in her Baptist church, Hope Baptist church, in Newark. And then everything went sideways when Brown got into the picture.

But Brown was nowhere near her at the time that she died. But let me ask you this. Where`s Brown tonight? And has he finally gotten ahold of Bobbi Kristina, their daughter together?

CASCERCERI: Well, we know that Sunday night, Bobby Brown left Tennessee and flew to Los Angeles to be with Bobbi Kristina. He was supposed to perform with New Edition, as you know that he did on Saturday night, the night of Whitney`s death. He performed Saturday night, and he announced at the concert that he loved Whitney and he gave a little shout- out to her. Sunday night, he flew to LA to be with Bobbi Kristina, and he`s with her now.

And Nancy, I want to address something that you mentioned. Everyone seems to think that Bobby Brown was the reason for Whitney`s downfall, yet one of Whitney`s good friends gave an interview, Jennifer Holliday (ph), and said that back then in the `90s, before Whitney even met Bobby Brown, they were exposed to a lot of drugs and they were around a lot of drugs. And drugs were very much a part of what they were doing prior to Whitney getting together with Bobby Brown.

GRACE: Yes, well, you know what? I appreciate that, but we all know what we can see, all right? So I appreciate all of the friends chiming in now.

To Dylan Howard, senior executive editor, Radaronline and "Star." You know, I`ll just put it out there. I got a problem with everybody dancing and partying and boozing it up while Whitney Houston is a couple feet above them dead.

HOWARD: I got to say, Nancy, I was at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday night. And I was standing in the foyer, and four floors above, in room 434, the lifeless body of Whitney Houston lay. There was drama, and beyond us, below us, there was a party. Odd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Whitney Houston gave that famous interview to ABC`s Diane Sawyer.

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: Pray for me as the person for my soul that I`m stronger.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Diane Sawyer said that Whitney asked her this question, have you ever heard the sound of 10,000 people disappointed in you?

HOUSTON: Judge not for your flaws but for your triumphs.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Music`s most awarded female artist of all time.

HOUSTON: Support is a major, major strengthener. And my daughter is my greatest inspiration. To all my fans and all those who kept praying --

LT. MARK ROSEN, BEVERLY HILLS POLICE: Miss Houston was apparently discovered in her bathtub. She was unconscious and unresponsive.

HOUSTON: May God bless you all. Thank you so very much. Peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live here in L.A., covering the death of American songbird Whitney Houston, and we are taking your calls. But first, unleash the lawyers. Joining us, Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, New York, Pam Hayes, defense attorney also in the New York area.

Think about it, Sanchez, Michael Jackson, Conrad Murray, Anna Nicole Smith, Howard Stern, Carroll O`Connor, who took the drug dealer that supplied his son Hugh to court. I don`t know what the outcome is going to be in the death of songbird Whitney Houston, but there is precedence in cases like this to look at the supplier, to look at those that allowed the death to occur. What about it, Sanchez?

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I hope this case does not take the route of the Michael Jackson case. And that route was that somehow, Michael Jackson`s death is everybody else`s fault except Michael Jackson. Now the fact of the matter is --

GRACE: Really? Because the jury disagree with you.

SANCHEZ: No. If Whitney Houston was taking drugs, if she was abusing them, look, you know, she`s responsible for her own life. Let`s not point fingers at other people. I hate to say it, I loved Whitney Houston, but you know, if she did this, she did it to herself.

GRACE: OK. Pam Hayes, let`s focus just a moment on the legal precedence that I just laid out for you.

Pam Hayes, I happen to know that you`re a felony prosecutor for many years in a high-crime area, as was I, and Pam, the reality is that there is precedence for court cases and scenarios very similar to this, and I`ll lay them out for you, as a matter of fact, when you were in Atlanta, just a couple of years later. That`s where Archy Bunker, Carroll O`Connor, brought the dope dealer into court.

And not only we`ve seen homicide charges in the Michael Jackson case, and we`ve seen accusations in the Anna Nicole Smith case. So it is not farfetched by any stretch of the imagination.

PAM HAYES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, it`s not farfetched that we have a need to look into it, but I agree with Mr. Sanchez. I think that, you know, right now, they don`t have enough probable cause or enough evidence to lean in that direction right now. It appears from the initial statement of the police that there was a legitimate amount of drugs in her possession. We`re not talking about large quantities of drugs. We`re not talking about, you know, drug that she --

GRACE: Pam, Pam, Pam.

HAYES: What`s the matter?

GRACE: She`s dead.

HAYES: OK.

GRACE: And no doctor, no single doctor in their right mind would prescribe three benzodiazepines, it just would not happen.

To Caryn Stark, psychotherapist joining us out of New York, weigh in, Caryn.

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: I so strongly disagree with them, Nancy. You are right. No doctor would prescribe three of them. Benzodiazepines are to relax you, to calm you. You do not need to have three of them. One of them will do the trick, and somebody like this really needed to be monitored in terms of the amount of drugs she should have.

It`s a problem, I want to say very quickly, with being a celebrity, that you often need to have something to help you cope. People seem to feel that, when they get anxious, and other people really want to please them and be close to them, so they forget about their ethics and they supply drugs that they should not be supplying.

If the consequences are strong enough, perhaps this won`t keep happening.

GRACE: To Mike Guy, executive editor, thefix.com, addiction expert.

Mike, thank you for being us, joining us there at the church where the invitation-only funeral is set to go down for song star Whitney Houston.

You know, friends and the people in Houston`s inner circle say she had been sober and clean of hard drugs for years. And would rarely drink when she would go out socially. So how is this -- how is this possible?

MIKE GUY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, THEFIX.COM, ADDICTION EXPERT: Well, let me just start by saying alcohol is a drug. I mean, if she was out drinking, she was in a relapse. I mean, that`s just sort of how it goes with addiction. Alcohol for an addict is as much of a drug as anything else. And it`s also part of -- you know, going forward and doing more drugs. Alcohol, maybe it leads to cocaine, maybe it leads to taking benzos. The combination of benzos and alcohol can be a pretty scary thing.

GRACE: Well, you know, the reality that the two were inconsistent, that she was stone cold sober and clean and then she winds up dead in her hotel bathtub, to me it reeks of inconsistency.

Out to Andrew J. Scott, former chief of police, Boca Raton, president, AJS Consulting.

Andrew, we are now hearing that the medical examiner of the coroner`s office is considering a search of Whitney Houston`s Atlanta townhome, why? And how do you get jurisdiction from L.A. with the long arm of the law, all the way to Atlanta?

ANDREW J. SCOTT, FMR. CHIEF OF POLICE, BOCA RATON, FL.; PRESIDENT, AJS CONSULTING: Well, it`d make sense that they`d want to check out her other living arrangements. And this is particularly important because they`re trying to look and establish the link as to where she may have been getting her drugs. It sounds like they were prescription drugs. There may be evidence within her Atlanta residence that might help them and assist them in narrowing down who the prescription -- prescribing doctor was and then subsequently move forward with some type of prosecution, if that is indeed the intent of the attorney -- the state attorney in L.A.

GRACE: Right. Right. And the medical examiner has his own investigative arm, so they investigate as well, along with the police. And most jurisdictions, and we`re waiting for CNN confirmation on that. It has not been confirmed. We did ask the coroner`s office and they said the option is open.

Out to the lines, Judy in Texas. Hi, Judy, what`s your question?

JUDY, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, I find it very unusual that the former bodyguard to begin with would have her monitored while she bathed. Was that out of concern that she pass -- would pass out from exhaustion or pass out because she was on drugs? And if he was so concerned about her passing out, why was there no monitoring of the drugs she was taking?

GRACE: You know what, Judy in Texas, that`s what I`m asking.

Out to Allison Samuels, senior writer, "Newsweek," confidante of Whitney Houston. What about it, Miss Samuels?

ALLISON SAMUELS, SENIOR WRITER, NEWSWEEK, WHITNEY HOUSTON`S CONFIDANTE: I think that there was only so much that they could do for Whitney. As you have said, a couple of people have said, this was something that she battled with for years. So at the end of the day, all they could do was try to keep her alive. The best way to keep her alive was to be aware of everything she was doing and not to leave her alone for long periods of time.

That`s what he told me. So they tried to make sure they -- they were around her so she couldn`t fall and slip, she couldn`t fall asleep. That`s what they did.

GRACE: Laura in New Jersey, what`s your question, Laura?

LAURA, CALLER FROM NEW JERSEY: Hey, Nancy.

GRACE: Hey, love.

LAURA: You know I`m wondering why or if celebrities are held to the same standards that anyone else is when applying for a job which is drug testing?

GRACE: Laura in New Jersey, I tried to cash a check at Wells Fargo the other day. And my driver`s license wasn`t sufficient. All right? So let me tell you the big stars like Whitney Houston are treated differently. There is a different level.

Would you agree or disagree, out to Jane Velez-Mitchell?

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST, HLN`S "ISSUES": Well, certainly stars often are able to convince doctors to give them drugs that the average mortal would not get them to give them. And additionally, the way these contracts are written, they may have a contract where drug testing is not required. It`s very rare. There are a lot of people saying, hey, just like in the sports world, you have to have drug testing before you go out in the field. This should be required for performers.

But it`s very difficult because it`s not necessarily in the properly intensive of the big labels to start drug testing everybody. They might have a problem having enough artists to do the songs that they want to do. In other words, we`ve got an epidemic in this country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We remember Whitney Houston and we dig for more answers into her shocking death.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: However, there were prescription medications, medications for anxiety and sleeplessness, as well as a throat infection.

ROSEN: Miss Houston was apparently discovered in her bathtub by a member of her personal staff.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Many people from this area, they just look at Whitney Houston and what they see is they see a local Jersey girl.

BOBBY BROWN, WHITNEY HOUSTON`S EX-HUSBAND: She was fine. She was with me.

ALAN JACOBS, WHITNEY HOUSTON`S FORMER BODYGUARD: The reality of it is that you can protect someone from everything, but you cannot protect them from themselves. I said, you hired me to do a job, to protect you. I said, but I cannot protect you from yourself. I took a stand. It was not four months later that we decided that it would be best to part company.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That was from ABC`s "Good Morning America."

We are taking your calls. And joining me live tonight here from L.A. in the continuing coverage of the death of Whitney Houston. The cause of death still has not been formally announced. Just as we learned there could be plans to search Whitney Houston`s Atlanta town home, why?

To Dylan Howard, senior executive editor, Radaronline, and "Star." What have we learned about the party the night before, she goes in calm, cool, collected, and then she leaves with blood going down her leg, disheveled, her hair is wet, she`s sweating. What happened? And we also understand there was an acrimonious and bitter argument with an alleged male lover at that party in the open.

DYLAN HOWARD, SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR, RADARONLINE,COM: Well, there was an altercation between Whitney Houston and another woman. An "X Factor" contestant. Now on Dr. Drew`s program on HLN last night, someone at that party said it actually wasn`t a physical altercation, that it was just verbal. A disagreement about a seating arrangement, but these two, as we understand it based on our own sourcing, they clashed over Whitney`s on- again, off-again lover with the rapper Ray J who was also at that party.

Whitney left disheveled, snapped by the paparazzi, blood on her legs, sweating, looking anything but the picturesque pop star that she had been for some time.

GRACE: But wait, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Right there. Right there, Ellie Jostad. If there was no physical altercation, then why was there blood on her leg?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, there`s been speculation, and we haven`t confirmed where that blood came from, but that she may have scratched herself or something when she was dancing. That there`s no report out there that it`s from some kind of physical fight with anybody.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Sharon in Nevada. Hi, Sharon, what`s your question?

SHARON, CALLER FROM NEVADA: First of all, Nancy, I don`t understand all the sedatives that she was taking. I don`t believe the family didn`t know it. They all say, you cannot drink alcohol with them. I don`t understand in the entertainment industry, her friends, her family, that they saw no reason that it was a problem with her drinking alcohol, whether it was champagne or Heineken or whatever it was. I have heard nothing about, oh, she was out partying, having a great time.

GRACE: You know what, Dorothy Cascerceri, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly," she`s right. What about it?

DOROTHY CASCERCERI, SENIOR EDITOR, IN TOUCH WEEKLY: Yes, Nancy. She did, and that`s a very interesting question. Why didn`t anybody stop her? Why didn`t her family members warn her that drinking and the drugs she was taking was a lethal combination? And the fact of the matter is, they had been on her case for so long. She admitted herself to rehab last year. She was in and outpatient programs upon their encouragement, she did that.

But there`s only a certain amount that her family and friends around her can do. She`s a grown woman. At the end of the day, she`s going to make her own decisions.

GRACE: OK, Dorothy, what is that going on behind you?

CASCERCERI: Yes, so behind us, we have people gathered. Somebody has been playing Whitney`s music over and over again in his car. He was driving by, doing loops earlier, but now he`s actually stopped, parked. It`s raining here, it`s probably 35 degrees. He has all of his windows down. He has his hatchback up, and people are just congregating, celebrating Whitney.

GRACE: To Allison Samuels, senior writer, "Newsweek."

Allison, how much money did Houston have left? What`s the truth, and who is set to get the money?

SAMUELS: Well, right now, I think that`s what a lot of people are sort of asking. A lot of people, friends and family, are trying to sort of figure out how she left her estate. Was it in order? Had she changed a lot of those life insurance policies from, you know, her name and Bobby Brown`s name to Bobbi Kristina`s name and to her mother`s name?

Those are things that we don`t have answers to yet, but things that people close to her are very concerned about. They`re not exactly sure that, though Michael Jackson looked disheveled on the outside in some ways, his business was in order in many ways. He had -- you know, he had his money sort of set up.

They`re not completely sure that Whitney actually had done that, particularly after her divorce from Bobby Brown. So a lot of concern at her funeral --

GRACE: What you are saying --

SAMUELS: -- will definitely focus on that.

GRACE: They are not sure her orders were -- affairs were in order, what do you mean? Who is they? Who is not sure?

SAMUELS: They are family, because so many people in her family depended on her.

GRACE: OK.

SAMUELS: Her family, his family, Bobby Brown. And that was --

GRACE: I got it.

SAMUELS: -- one of the pressures that Whitney faced, is that she took care of so many people.

GRACE: So are you telling me -- are you telling me that there is a chance that Bobby Brown was still the beneficiary of the bulk of her money?

SAMUELS: If she did not change her policies, her will, her papers after they divorced, yes, there is a chance of that. And you know, there`s a chance that Whitney had so much going on and she was sort of all over the place, that she didn`t take the time to do that. There is a very good chance of that, yes.

GRACE: We are taking a quick break. We are live here in L.A., and taking your calls.

Our family album is back showcasing your photos from the iReport. Virginia friends, Zea family, Serena, thankful her husband Michael, standing by her through multiple surgeries, married 16 years. They love friends, family, movies, their seven cats.

Share your family photos with us through iReport Family Album. Go to hlnTV.com/Nancygrace, and click on "Nancy`s Family Album."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Addiction is a very, very difficult thing.

ROSEN: Fire department and hotel security were already attempting resuscitation measures.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her sudden death shocked fans and musicians across the world.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was only 48 years old and her bodyguard found her unconscious in the bathtub.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live here in L.A. covering the death of American song bird Whitney Houston. And taking your calls.

Out to Marlene in Arizona. Hi, Marlene, what`s your question?

MARLENE, CALLER FROM ARIZONA: Hi, Nancy. I just want to also thank you for all the help that you do for everyone. My question is, is there a correlation between having alcohol in your system or having a few drinks and going into either a hot tub or a hot bathtub and having that hit your brain and submerging you into the water? Because it happened to me.

GRACE: Good question.

MARLENE: I had two drinks of champagne. I was perfectly fine. I went into a hot tub, and my body went limp.

GRACE: OK. Hold on, before I ran out of time. Marlene, let me ask Dr. Bill Lloyd.

Dr. Lloyd, what about it? Is there a correlation as Marlene in Arizona suggests?

DR. BILL LLOYD, M.D., BOARD CERTIFIED SURGEON & PATHOLOGIST: Of course if anyone has ever been to a hot tub, they have the big sign on the wall that says don`t come in here if you`ve been drinking for that exact reason. That hot water will calm, and relax and sedate, so will alcohol and so will prescription medications. A deadly combination. But it`s very likely she had already stopped breathing before she was immersed underwater.

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember, Army Sgt. Adam Quinn, 23, Orange City, Florida. Killed Afghanistan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, War on Terrorism Service Medal. Member of the First United Methodist Church. Loved time with family and friends. Leaves behind parents Chuck and Sherry. Brother Asa, widow Faye, son Ronan.

Adam Quinn, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us tonight. And tonight, we ask for your prayers for Courtney Miner and her family, the mother of two critically injured in a car accident, saved when her 9-year- old daughter called 911.

Courtney, we are praying.

And thank you to Chuck and Sandy and their chili party gang for watching our show. And for all of their votes during "Dancing with the Stars." We really appreciate it.

And happy birthday to Minnesota friend Kathy, loves gardening, reading, husband of 29 years, Douglas, four daughters, six grandchildren.

And happy birthday to Alberta, Canada, friend Michelle, mother of three. Loves her horse Ola.

And tonight, the twins and I want to wish you a very, very Happy Valentine`s Day. See, there is happiness in the world today.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. We will join you live here in L.A. And until then, good night, friend.

END