Whitney Houston confided to her assistant that she was abused as a child by the sister of a famous singer. (Photo: ScreenCap)

Whitney Houston, the iconic singer who died tragically in 2012 on the eve of the Grammy Awards, was abused as an eight-year-old child by the sister of a famous singer. The charges are contained in a new film about her life titled “Whitney.”

The R&B star’s assistant, Mary Jones, and Whitney’s half-brother, Gary Garland-Houston, make the disturbing claims in the film.

Jonessays Whitney told her that the late Dee-Dee Warwick, sister of legendary soul singer Dionne Warwick, abused her between the age of eight and nine.

According to Jones, Whitney said, “Mary, I was [abused] too. It was a woman.” When Jones asked who assaulted her, she said “It was Dee-Dee Warwick.”

Whitney’s mother Cissy, who was a major influence in her daughter’s life and career, never knew about the alleged abuse because Whitney was “ashamed” about what happened, Jones said.

The alleged abuse made the singer “question her sexual preference.” She married singer Bobby Brown in 1997 to show the world she was heterosexual. They divorced after a 14-year relationship.

Brown revealed in a 2016 tabloid interview that Houston was in a romantic relationship with her pal Robyn Crawford during their marriage and was bisexual. Houston denied throughout her career that she was gay and claimed she was never romantically involved with Crawford.

A source close to the Warwick family played down the abuse claims. Dee-Dee was openly lesbian, the source told The Times newspaper.

“Dee-Dee was openly lesbian in the music industry. Not necessarily in the public, but I don’t think that was a secret within the music industry. Whitney felt closer to Dee-Dee by virtue of them sharing similar orientation. It is interesting that there is that connection,” the source said.

He told Deadline:

“I [interviewed] Mary Jones, who was Whitney’s longtime assistant [throughout] the last 10 years of her life, and who knew her better probably better in that period than anybody else. And she told me Whitney’s point of view on this, and what Whitney had told her in detail, and how important she felt it was for understanding Whitney, but how scared everyone was to talk about it. So, yeah, the film changed radically in the last weeks of editing it, which I guess, as a detective, is the result you want.”

Gary also claims to have been abused by a “female relative”.

Mary discovered Whitney’s lifeless body. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning in her bathtub. She was found to have cocaine, marijuana and prescription medication in her system.