Who's Protecting Whitney Houston and Her Jewels?!

We talk with cemetery experts after details from inside the diva’s casket emerge

By Ted Casablanca, Alyssa Toomey Feb 28, 2012 1:47 PMTags
Whitney HoustonKevin Winter/Getty Images

We'll have more info on who is and who isn't talking in Whitney Houston's camp later this week, but, there's something else we've been concerned about, we have to say. It began with the tasteless National Enquirer cover featuring Whitney in her casket. Attached was the headline announcing Ms. Houston was buried with $500,000 worth of jewels.

So, since the late diva's casket reportedly took 10 security guards just for her transportation to the burial location, we have to wonder…who the heck is keeping Whitney safe now?

Morbid tone aside, it's a valid question to ask, considering that the location, tombstone and now monetary value of the casket contents are all published for anyone to read.

And according to reports, the details of the jewels and her gold-lined coffin have sparked real robbery fears, with some media outlets claiming armed bodyguards were present near the coffin.

But, since bodyguards can't protect the legend forever, we had to question what kind of long-term security Ms. Houston will receive. How safe are her casket, valuables and remains?

Knowing that sometimes celebrities (and non-celebrities alike) will opt for a concrete encasement, we checked with Houston's burial place, Fairview Cemetary, Westfield, N.J., to see if that was the case.

Once they heard we were calling from the media, they refused to answer any questions whatsoever.

We checked in with a burial expert over at Hollywood Forever (which holds the remains of such stars as Rudolf Valentino and Janet Gaynor), a premiere Hollywood cemetery.

Reps for Forever assured us Whitney's below-ground grave is one of the safest methods available and that a robbery would be very difficult to execute:

"It would not be easy, especially in a ground burial," our expert insisted, while explaining the below-ground method is much safer than a tomb, or above-ground burial.

So what about additional security? After all, Michael Jackson's family reportedly insisted his coffin be entombed in a concrete enclosure immediately following his funeral ceremony as protection.

Forest Lawn would not elaborate on the story (other than to say their burials were a "case-by-case" situation).

Did Whitney Houston's family insist on the same reported concrete protection? The family declined to comment when we called.

But, Hollywood Forever had this to say:

"A concrete vault is common in a ground burial. It's used in many cases to help distribute the weight," the expert explained.

But as far as further protection, experts at Hollywood Forever (and Forest Lawn) have both insisted it varies in every situation:

"It depends on what they anticipate and the level of celebrity. It really is a case-by-case basis," said our H.F. source, who echoed the same sentiment as Forest Lawn.

RIP, Whitney Houston. And we truly do hope it's in peace.