News | Entertainment
22 Oct 2025 3:58
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Naomi Ackie pushed herself to the limit with her portrayal of Whitney Houston in 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'

    The 31-year-old actress played the late music icon in the 2022 biopic and admits that it changed the way she worked as she was left exhausted by the part


    In an interview with The Observer newspaper, Naomi said: "That role pushed me to the edge, to the point where I was like, I have to change something otherwise I will shrink within this job, within this body, within the world.

    "I was away from home, isolated in Boston for like seven months, and hungry - I lost about 30lb to get to the shape of Whitney.

    "I lost a lot of myself, and not because of the art of it. It was to do with me feeling under pressure and trying to not be hated by the world - I was a catastrophic thinker, thinking I was never going to work again."

    Naomi earned critical acclaim for her depiction of the 'How Will I Know' hitmaker but confessed that it left her at "rockbottom" and led to a rethink of her work-life balance.

    She said: "It got me to such a rockbottom that it was a wake-up call. A job cannot mean so much that it steals my life's joy. I was like, we're gonna need to fix some priorities."

    Naomi recalled how she wanted to be an actress as a youngster in order to be "famous" but was urged to take the craft seriously by her mother.

    The 'Blink Twice' star said: "When I was younger, I was more attached to the idea of being famous. I wanted to be the best actor so I could go on a red carpet and do premieres - or be in 'Harry Potter'.

    "Mum was like, 'Why would you want to be famous? You should be an actor if you want to act.' She was very keen that I do it because I love it, that I study it, and that I become a master of a craft, but never aim for being a star for being a star's sake."

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

     Other Entertainment News
     21 Oct: Michael Fassbender is set to star in a new Netflix show about the Kennedy family
     21 Oct: Ana de Armas considers Tom Cruise to be a "dear friend and mentor" to her
     21 Oct: Jennifer Aniston was discouraged from acting by her dad
     21 Oct: Brandy was dehydrated and felt faint when she abruptly left the stage during her concert in Chicago on Saturday (18.10.25)
     21 Oct: Gabrielle Union is giving herself "grace" ahead of her 53rd birthday
     21 Oct: Keri Russell finds it "weird" that "everyone has an opinion about the way you look"
     21 Oct: Aaron Phypers has accused Denise Richards of making "false accusations" leading to his arrest
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    Australian football star Sam Kerr's first game on Aussie soil for more than two years is set to be against New Zealand More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    The Labour Party is calling for a probe into the Public Service Commission's ads about Thursday's mega-strike action More...



     Today's News

    Environment:
    Multiple highways across the country are closed - as the wild weather continues to rage 21:57

    International:
    What we know about Amazon's AWS outage and why it was such a big deal 21:47

    Entertainment:
    Michael Fassbender is set to star in a new Netflix show about the Kennedy family 21:30

    Accident and Emergency:
    One person has died following a boating incident off the coast of Napier today 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Ana de Armas considers Tom Cruise to be a "dear friend and mentor" to her 21:00

    Entertainment:
    Jennifer Aniston was discouraged from acting by her dad 20:30

    Entertainment:
    Brandy was dehydrated and felt faint when she abruptly left the stage during her concert in Chicago on Saturday (18.10.25) 20:00

    Entertainment:
    Gabrielle Union is giving herself "grace" ahead of her 53rd birthday 19:30

    International:
    Trump begins demolition to prepare for White House ballroom 19:27

    Entertainment:
    Keri Russell finds it "weird" that "everyone has an opinion about the way you look" 19:00


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd