Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images
The 71-year-old singer/actress told ET in an interview that airs tonight (March 13), "You know, in all honesty, I think she had a heart attack, that's what I think happened to her." When asked about Whitney's drug use playing a possible role in her death, Warwick insisted, "I don't know if it's that or not. I think her heart just gave out."
Dionne also described the emotions she felt as she accompanied Houston's body aboard the plane that transported her from Los Angeles back to her native New Jersey for Whitney's funeral. "It was a combination of things, stories, laughter, tears. All the emotions that you feel when somebody very near to you passes," she admitted.
Dionne, whose late mother Lee Drinkard Warwick was the sister of Whitney's mother Cissy Houston, previously revealed that she spoke with Whitney on the morning of her tragic death. The troubled singer talked to Warwick over the phone about record label executive Clive Davis' Grammy party, where she was scheduled to appear that night. "She said, 'You're here, aren't you? You're coming to the party, aren't you?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm going to be there' and she said, 'Thank you, I want you to be here. You've got to be here for me,'" Warwick recounted during an interview on 'Good Morning America' last week (March 8).
For more on the exclusive interview with Warwick, click over to ET.
Remembering Whitney Through Photos
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- Whitney Houston's Family Day Out
- Whitney Houston Shines at the Grammys
- Whitney Houston Knocks Out the National Anthem
- Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown: The Early Years
- Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston: Fallen Friends
- Whitney Houston's First Grammy Win
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