(You'd think with his experience, he'd know that it was the glow of druggin'.)

But that's not the really surprising bit.

Ever since the trailer for Sparkle -- with Whitney Houston in her final film performance -- was released, people have been oohing and ahing and intermittently loving it and clucking their tongues a lot.

Well, Mark Bego, who's written a book called End of the Rainbow -- I mean Whitney Houston! The Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall of the Woman Whose Voice Inspired a Generation -- certainly has an opinion on it.

Observes Bego:

It basically created a third (internal) nostril, burrowing through her flesh due to constant intake.

At least we know she wasn't lying when she said she wished she'd done crack because it was cheaper.

Whitney was addicted to the good stuff.

Whitney Houston, Jackie Rinehart

Writes Rinehart:

"What first impressed me about Whitney was her strong will. You could sense that strength immediately.

"She was not weak, a pushover, or easily beguiled. She was a Leo woman and could give a look that let you know it -- like a real sister girl! I loved that about her."

The topic for my audition was the emergence of Whitney Houston as a hot new singing star.

My debater was in a real huff, fuming about the way her music was produced and arguing that "she doesn't sound black enough!"

I was taken aback.

"She loved the Lord!"

It will be poignant, tearful, and filled with people who loved and felt for Whitney, as well as some who probably asked too much of her as they forced her into their idea of what she should represent and achieve.

The event will happen tomorrow at noon at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church.

And while Simmons meant he thinks Whitney literally offed herself in the tub, that other noted death pundit, Bill O'Reilly, feels Whitney simply wanted to extinguish herself in the long run.

"The Star-Spangled Banner"

No, she didn't write it. And she didn't even sing it live -- it was famously lip-synched. But Whitney put a whole lotta soul and spirit into our national anthem, turning something that's usually dredged out as de rigueur drudgery into a show-stopping piece of history that actually charted! Her version is the only version, as far as I'm concerned.