21 hours ago
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The singer feels she was painted as a "villain."
Patti LaBelle is reportedly angry and heartbroken after being painted as a “villain” in CNN’s documentary about her late friend, Luther Vandross.
She and the beloved crooner were friends for decades—after meeting at The Apollo and him running her first fan club. However, in Luther: Never Too Much, sources close to LaBelle feel she was framed as one of the people who salaciously spoke about his sexuality.
Page Six reported that LaBelle spoke with the documentary‘s producers for an hour, detailing countless stories about her and Vandross’ friendship. Her interview was cut from the film after she refused to sign release forms when producers denied her request to view the film’s final cut.
“Some of the producers felt like it was reasonable for her to see [the final edit], but they were overruled,” sources told the outlet. “And some of the producers were not comfortable including that [‘WWHL’] clip of Patti.”
In the film, they included a snippet from her infamous 2017 Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen interview where she seemingly outed the “Here And Now” singer. “We talked about it,” said the “Lady Marmalade” songstress when asked about Vandross’ sexuality, noting that he remained closeted because “he did not want his mother to be [upset] — although she might have known — but, he wasn’t going to come out and say this to the world.”
To further showcase LaBelle in a negative light, the excerpt was predicated by Richard Marx (Vandross’ songwriting partner) stating, “One of the things that really pissed me off is there are people who have talked about his personal life, people who he considered friends.”
When speaking on his sexual orientation, Vandross said in the film, “Questions about my sexuality, well I suppose, will just always be questions.”
He declared, “Let me tell you who I owe answers to: What I owe you is my music, my talent, my best effort… that’s all. I will neither deny or confirm that any such rumors about personal things like that are true or untrue. I won’t give the satisfaction of a denial because that is a submission of sort. I won’t even address it. I’ll just say, ‘Mind your f**king business.’ That’s my response to that.”
LaBelle was “very close” to Vandross and his family, and helped take care of him “’til the end.” Sources close to LaBelle explained, “She would hire people to tend to him, take him food and look after his mother and aunt.”
Her team believes in “her impact on his career out of the film,” but she reportedly has not seen the film in its entirety.
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