Bebe Winans Says Whitney Houston Felt ‘Caged’ by ‘Success and Fame’

Singer BeBe Winans is giving fans insight into Whitney Houston’s complicated feelings around her success and superstardom.

Winans, a gospel artist and longtime friend to the late pop star, talked about Houston with People magazine at the It’s A Wonderful Lifetime Yuletide Event, a recent event in West Hollywood, California.

“She was a sister, and beyond a sister,” Winans told the magazine. “She was someone who had such a big heart and loved people and wanted to help people, but sometimes felt caged because of her success and her fame.”

According to Winans, Houston yearned to do normal things like “walk in malls,” and found comfort in escaping to his Nashville home for time away from the spotlight.

In addition to revealing Houston’s desire for a normal life, Winans also spoke to the publication about his friend’s generosity.

According to Winans, the I Will Always Love You singer once loaned him money to purchase a home when he was having trouble getting his down payment accepted.

“On the back porch, she said, ‘This looks like my brother’s house,’ and I was like, ‘You said that about every room we went in,’ and then she reached in her pocket and she put out an envelope, and she gave it to me and in it was $50,000 to pay for what the bank had put on me,” Winans explained.

Winans wrote extensively about his friendship with Houston in a 2012 book called The Whitney I Knew. In it, the six-time Grammy winner looked back on their relationship, which began in the 1980s.

“It was the best therapy to deal with the pain and loss,” Winans told Rolling Stone about writing the book.

Houston was just 48 years old when she drowned in a bathtub at a Beverly Hills hotel, in February 2012.