Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “The Preacher’s Wife”
Not so “good girls” and “bad boys”
If you’re wondering why Whitney was so hesitant about taking the role, she revealed her initial thought process in an interview with the Detroit Free Press in 1996. Houston said that she had her doubts because she didn’t feel she couldn’t adequately portray a woman who was, as she described her, “a dowdy housewife.” Then there was the fact that her character is married to a “good guy,” the preacher portrayed by Courtney B. Vance. Here’s what she had to say:
“I never did go for boys like that,” says Whitney. “No, I take that back. I was involved for about a minute with a boy who was the nephew of a preacher. But I always was more interested in the boys who were …”
A little bad?
“Sometimes more than a little,” she says, unleashing a knowing laugh.
She wouldn’t start to see herself in the character until after she’d read the script a second time. Eventually she realized both she and Julia have respect for the church, love their children and respect the sanctity of their marriages. Whitney talked about being able to see how both she and Julia were loyal to their husbands. “I mean, when she meets Denzel, she could say `enough of this’ and let what she has go. But Julia’s true.”
