Kevin Costner reveals secret promise to Whitney Houston

The actor has opened up about the promise he made to his late co-star, Whitney Houston, prior to filming The Bodyguard.

Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

Whitney Houston could always count on Kevin Costner to be her “imaginary bodyguard.”

Costner appeared on the June 3 episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where he looked back on filming the 1992 hit film The Bodyguard alongside Houston, who died in 2012 at the age of 48. He said he knew from the start that she should star in the film alongside him.

“I loved her. It’s not like this giant mystery,” Costner said, per People. “So I knew that she should be the one.”

Kevin Costner. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Whitney Houston. Picture: Vince Bucci/AFP

Not only did the Yellowstone star play Houston’s love interest and bodyguard in the romantic thriller, but he also produced the film and cast her in the role of superstar Rachel Marron.

Because director Mick Jackson was “afraid” of Houston, Costner was forced to step up to the plate, he said.

“I started to guide her. And I wasn’t trying to usurp my director, but I had made a promise to her, not to f**king him,” he said, referring to the promise he made the singer and her then-manager Clive Davis that she “would be good” in the film despite it testing poorly with audiences at first.

“That was my promise to her. I was always gonna keep my promise to her.”

Whitney (centre) with husband Bobby Brown at right and confidante Robyn Crawford at left.

Costner also recalled telling Houston that she couldn’t have an entourage on set.

“There was a moment when Whitney came, and I said, ‘Look, you can’t have an entourage, but 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 … I don’t have [an entourage] you’re not going to have one,’” he remembered. “And that’s how we started.”

Crawford was Houston’s longtime assistant and rumoured girlfriend. She confirmed after the star’s death that the two had indeed had a romantic relationship at one time.

A scene from The Bodyguard. Picture: Supplied

The former co-stars remained friends until Houston’s tragic death in 2012, with Costner delivering a 17-minute eulogy at her funeral.

“I had been working on this speech … and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech,” he told Shepard.

“Somebody said, ‘CNN’s here, they wouldn’t mind if your remarks were kept shorter because they’re going to have commercials.’ And I said, ‘They can get over that. They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care.’”

This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission.