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Cast of “Bobbi Kristina” (Courtesy of TVOne)Demetria McKinney, who portrays late icon Whitney Houston in TV One’s biopic Bobbi Kristina, tells ABC Radio that she’s “never played somebody so iconic” — not to mention someone so psychologically and emotionally impactful.
As Demetria recalls, “A couple weeks into filming I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning bawling. [I] couldn’t stop. I could not get her off of me.”
The “Is This Love” singer adds, “There’s something to be said for such a spiritual person. Such a faith-based person. And somebody who has left such a mark on so many different people.”
She adds, “And I think that’s when the responsibility kinda settled on me. The responsibility hit kinda hard.”
Regardless of how psychologically taxing it was to portray one of the world’s biggest entertainers, Demetria explains that it was all worth it because Bobbi Kristina is a story that needed to be told.
“There’ll never really be a good time to tell it,” she says. “But I think that the longer we wait to tell the story, the fewer lives we get to change from it happening again. We lost two beautiful, beautiful souls way too early.
“My son is eighteen,” she continues. “So I took on that responsibility in making sure that I understood this was a conversation piece to save. This was a conversation piece to teach how to love. This was a conversation piece about relationships.”
McKinney explains, “Relationships are just that. And if we don’t cultivate them properly, if we don’t show the love that we have for each other, we don’t know when the next time will be. And hopefully people will get an opportunity to see that and understand it.”
Bobbi Kristina airs Sunday, October 8, at 7 p.m. ET on TV One.
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