Whitney Houston in her coffin is still on the cover of The National Enquirer, on newsstands everywhere. The issue won’t be replaced until Thursday or Friday of this week. In the two stores that I’ve checked, The Enquirer has been moved behind the other tabloids so that the only thing visible is the headline. Several of you commented on the story that you saw the issue out and visible at a child’s eye level.

Well not only is this photo presumably devastating to Whitney’s family, it could seriously damage the business of the funeral home where it was taken. The owner of the facility where Whitney was interred, the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J., told The Daily News that the leak of the photo was “devastating” to her personally and to her longstanding family business. What’s more is that the owner swears that security guards were with Whitney’s body 24 hours a day up until the private family viewing. So someone in Whitney’s inner circle had to have taken and sold that photo. Despicable.

The respected owner of Whitney Houston’s funeral home said Friday she’s “devastated” a photo of the singer in her open casket appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer.

Carolyn Whigham wants fans to know her family-run business did not sell the now notorious image and that she’s “horrified” by accusations her close-knit staff is to blame, she told the Daily News.

“We did not take that photo. We did not sell the photo. We would never do something like that,” the second-generation CEO of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J., said.

“Whitney was a friend,” she continued. “I’m the one who flew to Los Angeles and got Whitney from the coroner’s office. I did everything to protect her.”

She said a deluge of distressing emails from irate Houston fans now has her fearing for her staff’s safety.

“One email said that if the person owned a dog, and the dog died, they would not come to my funeral home,” she said with sadness. “I’m worried about my employees, worried about me. I’ve been in business since 1943. This is my name, my character. Honestly, this is my life’s work. We would never do something like this.”

She said Houston’s family has made it clear they do not blame her business.

“I am very confident they are on the same page with me. Family friend Tyler Perry was on the Steve Harvey (radio) show this morning, and he said emphatically he knows we did not do it,” she told The News.

She said security was with Houston the entire time her body was at the funeral home.

“They were there 24 hours a day. They slept there with her. She was never alone, anywhere,” Whigham said. “The only time security fell back was when the family had the private viewing Friday. We weren’t involved with that. The family invited its own guests.”

[From The NY Daily News]

Several of you who work in the funeral industry commented on this story last week and we’re grateful to you for your insight, particularly to MorticiansDoItDeader and another commenter who just used an ellipses as a handle. Morticians said that the funeral home should have asked visitors to surrender their cellphones as a precaution given the high profile person interred there. She also noted that the embalmers did a good job with Whitney.

There was also the issue of Whitney being buried in 1/2 million worth of jewelry, which Morticians and many of you considered irresponsible by the Enquirer to put out there, as it could invite grave robbers. Morticians noted that it’s not likely Whitney will be buried in that jewelry. “We take that off when everyone leaves and give it back to the family after the service.” The owner of the funeral home said basically the same thing to The Daily News about the jewelry. “That’s crazy. It’s not true.” Poor Whitney and poor Bobbi Kristina. I hope she’s ok, but I’m glad we haven’t heard much about her. Hopefully her family is around her at this time.