Tyler Perry Brings Whitney Home on His Private Jet
WHITNEY HOUSTON is coming home to New Jersey.
The L.A. coroner's office returned her body to her family yesterday morning, and the body was set to be flown to the Garden State late yesterday, according to two anonymous family sources and the Associated Press.
Whitney's body was to be flown on Tyler Perry's private jet, TMZ.com reported.
Whitney's family said a wake could be held Thursday and a funeral Friday at Newark's Prudential Center, a sports and events arena that seats about 18,000 people.
Funeral arrangements were being made by Newark's Whigham Funeral Home, which handled the 2003 funeral of Whitney's father, John Houston, according to the AP's sources.
A woman at the funeral home, where several police officers were stationed yesterday afternoon, said she could neither confirm nor deny such reports, but a white tent was set up leading into the funeral home's rear entrance.
Yesterday, mourners left flowers, balloons and candles for Whitney at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where she began singing as a child.
Across the street from the church, Bashir Rasheed sold T-shirts reading "In Memory of Whitney Houston 1963-2012" for $10 apiece.
Beverly Hills police say that a member of Whitney's staff found her under water in a bath tub about 3:30 p.m., just hours before she was scheduled to attend a pre-Grammy Awards gala hosted by her mentor Clive Davis. Police have said there were no indications of foul play.
* In part due to curiosity as to how Whitney would be remembered, Sunday's Grammy Awards telecast delivered for CBS its largest audience since 1984 and beat last year's viewership by 50 percent.
More than 39.9 million viewers flocked to the broadcast, making it the second-most-watched Grammys in history, according to preliminary Nielsen Co. figures released yesterday. That exceeds last year's Oscars broadcast, which was seen by 37.6 million viewers.
Howard Gensler, Daily News Tattle Columnist
Philadelphia Daily News
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