#84: Whitney Houston: Crack is Whack

We all knew Whitney Houston wanted to dance with somebody, we just had no idea she’d end up waltzing with a crack pipe. The singer had barreled through the ’80s and ’90s racking up #1 hits and the occasional flop (like marrying the dysfunctional Bobby Brown). After selling over nine million copies of The Bodyguard soundtrack and stockpiling six Grammys, she decided to move on to something more, uh, super f*cking illegal.

In early 2000, Whitney was busted lugging weed through a Hawaii airport. As if that wasn’t bad-ass enough, she inspired Lohans everywhere by skipping shows and losing enough weight to scare even Nicole Richie. Chatting with Diane Sawyer in 2002, she admitted to, well, everything. “My business is sex, drugs, rock and roll … I partied a lot.” When asked by Sawyer about her drug of choice — “Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?” — Whitney answered, “It has been at times.” Sawyer: “All?” Houston: “At times.” But even Whitney had her limits: “I make too much money for me to ever smoke crack … crack is whack.” Whack enough to send the fallen songbird to rehab in 2004. She has yet to make a solid comeback — unless having her husband yank a “doody bubble” from her ass counts — but at least she’s made headlines dumping Brown for Ray J., brother of Brandy and on-camera lover of Kim Kardashian.

Whitney’s daughter is possibly continuing the family addiction tradition. Pics of then 13-year-old Bobbi Kristina exhaling what looked like marijuana smoke popped up on the Web in 2007. So much for teaching children well and letting them lead the way.