“MADtv” Star Debra Wilson Talks Portraying Whitney Houston's Infamous 2002 Interview with Diane Sawyer ‘a Little Bit Crazier’
“MADtv” Star Debra Wilson Talks Portraying Whitney Houston's Infamous 2002 Interview with Diane Sawyer ‘a Little Bit Crazier’
Virginia ChamleeMon, April 27, 2026 at 5:52 PM UTC
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From left: Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in their Diane Sawyer interview, Debra Wilson on MADtvCredit: Ida Mae AstuteWalt Disney Television via Getty; MAD TV -
Debra Wilson is recalling Whitney Houston’s 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer — and her take on it in a MADtv sketch
Wilson parodied the interview by exaggerating Houston’s mannerisms into a more outrageous caricature rather than a direct imitation
In a newly released interview, the comedian claimed Houston ultimately enjoyed the parody, finding Wilson’s portrayal “outrageous”
MADtv cast member Debra Wilson is recalling a now-infamous 2002 sit-down between Whitney Houston and Diane Sawyer — and what the music icon thought of her parody of the interview.
The original interview saw Houston, who died in February 2012 of an accidental drowning, admit to drug use but say she does not use crack cocaine, adding, "Crack is cheap.... crack is whack."
In an interview with Hype filmed in 2022 and just now released, Wilson opened up about her portrayal of Houston's interview, saying she didn’t aim for perfect realism — in fact, quite the opposite.
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MADtv's portrayal of the Sawyer interview with Houston and BrownCredit: MAD TV
Asked if she was worried her impressions on the show "could hurt feelings," Wilson responded, "I really never thought about somebody's feelings at the time, I have to admit, because it was a parody of the things that I had seen. So, I wanted to just position those into a caricature.”
Wilson continued: “So, I never wanted to make [Whitney] so real, but at the same time, I knew that part of the responsibility of the show and the basis of the show was we're going to say whatever they're thinking so that you don't have to say it. Whatever is going on, we would take things and then blow it up from the news. But things that tended to be more factual rather than conjecture.”
The MADtv sketch drew directly from moments in the Sawyer interview, but with a comedic twist that pushed them into absurdity. Wilson told Hype how she aimed to take even the smallest details and expand them into something unmistakably satirical.
"I would take things, like I said, the Diane Sawyer interview and she would do one small thing and then I would go, okay, I'm going to crystallize that to make it more of a parody of a person as opposed to make her real because it was important to make her less real and, you know, less real to the real Whitney Houston and then make it a little bit crazier than than everything else,” Wilson said.
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Wilson added that "some of the sketches went wide and far and beyond, but not as Whitney Houston — as the character."
Wilson added that behind the scenes, the MADtv sketch process wasn’t as improvisational as viewers might assume. While there was room for spontaneity, structure remained essential — especially given the technical demands of sketch comedy.
“Um, a little, but I'll tell you why it wasn't a lot for something like that,” Wilson said of improv. “There was enough of it because technically you want to keep on track because the camera people, they know to switch cameras with the director of the booth based on certain words or certain lines.”
She added: “When we were given full rein, sometimes we would go off for rails… But if the script worked, we didn't need to go far from it. And whatever we needed to tweak, [we] kept it still tight to have a definitive beginning, middle and end.”
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Despite the boldness of the parody, Wilson claimed to Hype that she eventually learned that Houston herself wasn’t offended and, in fact, enjoyed the sketch.
“I found out she liked it,” Wilson shared. “She thought it was crazy because she thought that what I did was outrageous.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
