Pop icon Whitney Houston once again will sing ‘I Have Nothing,’ as singer’s personal belongings are set to be sold off because she has allegedly not paid the bills to keep them in storage.
A New Jersey storage company sued Houston for payment and announced that it will auction off hundreds of items previously owned by pop star Whitney Houston.
Slinky evening dresses, sequin-encrusted bustiers and leopard print catsuits by designers including Versace, Armani and Dolce and Gabbana will be auctioned alongside furniture and musical instruments, including a £150,000 custom-made, see-through Schimmel grand piano will also be auctioned.
Steve Newmark, owner of A.J. Willner Auctions said,
If you were really getting outfitted to do a show, this is the stuff. The size is rather small. I never realized she was that small. But it’s a fabulous thing.
He further added,
It’s a warehouse full of stuff from her shows. The auction is open to the public, but only for qualified buyers. It’s not for a teenage fan hoping to buy one of her trinkets.
Attendees will have to pay up $100 to enter the building, and winning bidders must immediately deposit at least 25 percent of the auction price.
Houston, 43, a Newark native, is divorcing singer Bobby Brown after 14 years of marriage. Some of his music awards will be on the same auction block.
The auction will be held at the Irving, New Jersey, storage facility where Houston kept her belongings. It will be open only to bidding on the premises, with no telephone or email bidding allowed, Newmark said.
Houston’s publicist Nancy Seltzer told the New York Post,
Whitney is selling off at auction old tour equipment that is no longer in use. Many artists get rid of the old stage equipment and costuming they don’t need any more. That is what is happening.
Houston, one of the most revered celebrities of the late 1980s and early 90s, is now being forced to sell off her clothes. Last year she nearly lost one of her houses in New Jersey because she was reportedly more than a million dollars behind on the mortgage but managed to pay off the debt. But this time she just can’t save her belongings.
