Something else I realized from my post earlier today on the subject of substance abuse and women in mass media: if you are a woman of color, even though you could easily be placed in the Desperate Housewife or Lindsay Lohan stereotype, media will still tell your story from the Crack Whore narrative.
Case at hand: Whitney Houston. Her story could have easily been told from the fallen celebrity perspective (check the original post for the different ways in which these women are approached), however, the focus was on her supposed crack habit. The most grim aspects of her relationship with Bobby Brown were picked and dissected. Every photo of her from that era shows her portrayed like a street hooker, her body broken, her face distorted. She was one of the top singers of her time, but due to her addiction, all media reflected only on the sordid aspects of her health problems.
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