Chapter 17:
It was Spring of 1995, and Whitney was working on her second feature motion picture, "Waiting to Exhale". In this movie, she played one of four friends living in Phoenix, Arizona named Savannah Jackson. She was a single, independent TV producer who finds herself in a web of complicated relationships. It was much different from her Rachel character, but she enjoyed sinking her teeth into someone who was so much alike, yet so much different from her. The movie included great actress such as Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine and her friend Angela Bassett. She was also teaming up with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for a great all-girl soundtrack.
In addition to "Waiting to Exhale", she was also waiting to exhale from her marriage to Bobby. She had had enough with his antics. She frequently talked to her best friend, Gospel legend CeCe Winans, her mother, and her aunt, the legendary Dionne Warwick about what to do. They all told her the same thing: If you have prayed about it daily and fought for what you have daily and loved as much as you possibly could daily and STILL felt empty each day, then it wasn't worth the trouble any longer.
The final straw had been one night when Bobby was out as usual, leaving Whitney alone. As usual, she stressed herself out because she was hoping that he didn't get into any sort of trouble that she would have to bail him out of. After giving Krissy a bath, she grabbed a bowl of popcorn and they sat down in the kitchen to watch the TV on the counter. As big as her Mendham house was and as many rooms that she had, Whitney always found herself spending the most time in her kitchen.
While she was watching TV, her house phone rang. "Hello?" she asked after picking it up. Click. The phone call dropped. The phone rang and dropped two times more within 15 minutes. Finally after the third time calling, an irritated Whitney picked up the phone again. "Who the hell is this?!" she barked in the receiver. "Bitch, who do you want it to be?" a ghetto sounding woman yelled back. "Bitch?!How do you have my number and who are you?" Whitney questioned, covering up Krissy's little ears to the profanity. "I'm the woman who your so called husband comes to three times a week." The lady went on. Whitney's mouth dropped open. "What are you talking about?" she finally asked. "Bobby, is here now. As a matter of fact he's sleeping in my bed right now!" the woman put the phone up to snoring that Whitney knew only belonged to her philandering husband. "Just thought you would like to know that, Whitney." She immediately recognized her voice as Bobby's baby's mother Kim. "Kim? Is this you?" she asked. "Yes bitch. It's me." She went on. "Bobby may be married to you, but he calls out my name at night. As a matter of fact, he just got through eating my pussy too!"
Whitney immediately felt sick to her stomach. She knew Kim was always jealous that Bobby left her to be with Whitney and the fact that she was insanely rich, famous and attractive did not help matters. And here she was, playing the fool and staying faithful by him, standing up for him to the media about him, bailing him out every time he got in trouble, and financially supporting he and his children for every want and need. And he obviously was not only sleeping with other women, but someone he supposedly left for her.
"You are one nasty ass whore to wait for him to come to you after he gets done with me." She stated. "And, you actually can have his filthy self because I'm d-o-n-e with his tired ass! Now relay the message to him. Have yourself a good night." She hung up and immediately asked God to grant her strength this final time. She called CeCe to come help her pack up his stuff to start putting it outside. While she waited, tears began to flood out of her eyes. Krissy touched her mother's face, sensitive to what she was feeling. "Mommy no cry. No sad." The smart two-year-old comforted her. Whitney tried her best to smile and held her baby girl close to her for dear life. She knew that what was going to happen next would require for her to be strong for her daughter and to show a good example for how to deal with personal adversary. It wouldn't be easy, but it was something that had to be done to make a better future for them both.