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BACK HOME: Whitney Houston’s mom, Cissy (right with her daughter), said the pop queen’s funeral will be held Saturday at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she worshipped growing up. (INFphoto.com)
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Fans wishing to pay their last respects to pop icon Whitney Houston will have to be on the VIP list.
Attendance at Houston’s Saturday afternoon sendoff is by invitation only after Houston’s mom, Cissy, insisted the ceremony be held in her home church in Newark instead of the nearby Prudential Center.
Instead of mourners being accommodated at the 19,000-seat arena, friends and family will have to squeeze into one of New Hope Baptist Church’s 1,500 spots.
“This is their private time,” said funeral home director Carolyn Whigham. “They have shared her for 30-some years with the city, with the state, with the world. This is their time now for their farewell.”
Family members ultimately decided against a Michael Jackson-type arena memorial. The King of Pop was feted with a star-studded funeral at the Los Angeles Staples Center after his sudden death in 2009.
Organizers are preparing for an overflow crowd that will pack nearby streets with fans and mourners. “I don’t see how we can avoid that,” said New Hope pastor Joe Carter. “Everybody loved Whitney.”
Although the family ruled against a stadium-style sendoff, there appeared to be a split over where Houston will be buried.
Some family members, including Houston’s mom and cousin Dionne Warwick, made a case to bury her in Atlanta, where they believe Houston was happiest, according to TMZ.com. But other family members wanted Houston buried in her native Newark.
That is apparently not the only family division. According to TMZ, Houston’s family has blocked her ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, from seeing their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. And some of her relatives don’t even want him at the funeral.
Meanwhile, fans crowded the funeral home that is making the arrangements.
“This is the closest I’ve ever been to her and this is the closest I’m going to get,” said Leona Webb, 40, of Irvington, NJ.
“It’s an honor for me to stand here. She was one of my idols . She was born in Newark. She made it from Newark. And she came back home. That’s beautiful.”
Gospel singer Marvin Winans, who is the pastor of a Detroit church, told reporters there that he will officiate at the funeral and that members of his musical family may perform.
Houston died Saturday on the eve of the Grammy Awards in a Beverly Hills hotel, where an aunt and aides found her lifeless body partially submerged in a bathtub filled with water.
Although a cause of death has not been determined, investigators are looking into the possibility that Houston died from a lethal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs.
“The Insider” TV show reported yesterday that the singer never made it in for her bath.
According to the report, Whitney was getting into the tub when she collapsed and was found half in the tub and half out.
Additional reporting by Ikimulisa Livingston