While turning 70, Kevin Costner is remembering the late Whitney Houston.
Costner marked his 70th trip around the sun on Saturday, January 18, sharing a throwback photo via Instagram Story of himself and the late singer while on the set of 1992’s Bodyguard. The pair both starred in the romantic thriller, which earned two 1993 Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song.
“This photo reminds me of how lucky I am to be getting another birthday,” the Yellowstone star wrote. “We lost such a light when we lost Whitney.”
The photo was originally shared via Houston’s Instagram, now managed by her estate, to honor Costner’s milestone birthday. “Happy birthday to Kevin Costner!” the caption read. “A behind the scenes photo from The Bodyguard with Kevin, Whitney and Ellin La Var, Whitney’s hair stylist for the film.”
Costner has previously been open about the love he still has for Houston, who died in 2012 at the age of 48. “I loved her — it’s not like this giant mystery — so I knew that she should be the one,” he said on a June 2024 episode of “Armchair Expert” podcast.
Taking the good with the bad. Kevin Costner has garnered critical acclaim as both an actor and a director, but he’s faced his fair share of personal hardships. During a July 1995 interview with the Seattle Times, the Postman star opened up about his 1994 divorce from Cindy Silva after 16 years of marriage. At […]
At the time, Costner, who also produced the film, recalled that Bodyguard director Mick Jackson was “afraid” of Houston, so the actor “started to guide her” on set. The actor said he had to advise the singer “not to bring an entourage” during the film’s production.
“And I wasn’t trying to usurp my director, but I had made a promise to her, not to f—ing him,” Costner continued, noting he had promised Houston the film would perform well in theaters despite poor reception during test screenings.
“I was always gonna keep my promise to her,” he said. “[I said], ‘I’m gonna take care of you if there’s a person important to you’ — turned out to be Robyn Crawford — I said, ‘Let’s have Robyn with you.’ And that’s how we started.”
He added, “I don’t know what it was, but we had a moment, and I realized that the world had a higher idea of who we were, so I basically embraced it. I was her imaginary bodyguard.”
Since her death, the Dances with Wolves alum has spoken candidly about her legacy, and was among many friends and loved ones who spoke in her honor at her funeral service in 2012.
“Whitney returns home today to the place where it all began,” he told mourners at the time. “And I urge us all, inside and outside, across the nation and around the world to dry our tears, suspend our sorrow — and perhaps our anger — just long enough, just long enough to remember the sweet miracle of Whitney.”
“Off you go, Whitney, off you go,” he continued. “Escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly father, and when you sing before him, don’t worry … you’ll be good enough.”
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