Pay Up...

[From E! Online]

Daddy to Whitney: Pay Up
Fri Dec 6, 2:00 PM ET

By Josh Grossberg

Whitney Houston made major headlines with her Diane Sawyer interview. Now her dad is generating some ink, thanks to his own TV chat.

Speaking from his hospital bed on the Thursday installment of the syndicated Celebrity Justice, 82-year-old John Houston spoke openly about his $100 million breach-of-contract battle with his daughter and demanded Whitney pay up.

Papa Houston is suing his 39-year-old spawn for failing to make good on a bill to his John Houston Entertainment for numerous services rendered. Dad says he and company president Kevin Skinner organized Whitney's books, made timely payments on the mortgage to her New Jersey mansion and helped her negotiate her $100 million megadeal with Arista Records in 2001. The elder Houston says he also introduced his daughter to famed Manhattan entertainment attorney Allen Grubman (father of disgraced publicist Lizzie), who bailed Whitney out of her January 2000 pot bust in Hawaii.

"I never thought about suing my daughter," Houston told Celebrity Justice. "I thought about suing the corporation that belongs to Whitney and she happened to be right in the middle of it."

He then directly addressed his daughter, playing the old-age card.

"You get your act together honey, and you pay me the money that you owe me. If you do that, you haven't got a lawsuit...At my age, I haven't got that long. Now if you think I got that long, you think about it. You step into my shoes. I would like to spend the last years of my life on a boat some place."

No immediate word on what is ailing him.

Fans of the pop songstress, on the other hand, now know what doesn't ail her.

Talking to ABC's Sawyer on Wednesday, Whitney held forth on several tabloid rumors surrounding her. She asserted that she does not suffer from anorexia, bulimia or any other eating disorder. Although she admitted to having abused alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and pills, she denied she's a junkie with a six-figure drug habit and said her partying days are long behind her. She also talked about her stormy relationship with hubby Bobby Brown.

Eventually, she got around to discussing the lawsuit brought by daddy. Whitney said her father's ill health has made him susceptible to the suggestions of unscrupulous business partners who want to extort money from her.

"We'll work it out," she said, but quickly added, "they'll never get $100 million out of me. I know that!"

Despite the dispute, she said she still loves her father.

Whitney's interview delivered big numbers for ABC, with some 21.3 million viewers tuning in, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Meanwhile, Whitney's publicist, Nancy Seltzer, was unavailable for comment on the elder Houston's latest remarks. She earlier claimed that John Houston was unaware of the suit and told his daughter, "It's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of."

A spokeswoman for John Houston Entertainment did not immediately return phone calls.

When she's not dealing with the greatest feud of all, Whitney has been busy prepping for her comeback. She's set to perform a free mini concert at the Big Apple's Lincoln Center Plaza on Sunday. The set will be taped for Good Morning America on Tuesday, the same day her new album, Just Whitney, hits record stores.

NEWSFILE: 6 DECEMBER 2002