With a hem several inches too long, the comeback diva had to keep hoisting the frock up to avoid falling on her face as she belted out the lyrics to “Million Dollar Bill.” Whitney even had to deal with the garb’s back fastening coming apart.

Despite the wardrobe malfunction, Whitney championed through her performance, telling host Dermot O’Leary: “I sang myself out of my clothes…”

On Monday, Whitney — who is staging a career comeback with the release of her album in 7 years, I Look To You – told Oprah that the crooner wasn’t physically abusive but that “he slapped me once but he got hit on the head three times by me.”

Whitney, 46, says she “was horrified he spit on me, in my face” and that left her “very hurt, very angry.”

The star says she was attracted to Brown, who she married in a lavish ceremony in 1992, because he had control in their relationship.

“He was my drug,” Whitney tells Oprah. “I didn’t do anything without him.” “Something happens to a man when a woman has that much fame. … I tried to play down all the time. I used to say, ‘I’m Mrs. Brown, don’t call me Houston.’”

Whitney Houston goes one-on-one with the Queen of Talk i a two-part appearance premiering on The Oprah Winfrey Show this Monday, Sept. 14.

In this sneak peek video of Oprah Winfrey’s one-on-one interview with legendary singer Whitney Houston, the singer describes the day her mother, gospel legend Cissy Houston, staged an intervention to get the star into rehab — with the help of the local sheriff.

Oprah chats with Whitney on the 24th season premiere of The Oprah Winfrey Show Monday, Sept. 14 and Tuesday, Sept. 15.

I Look To You — Whitney’s first LP of original material in seven years — is on course to sell more than 200,000 in its first week of release.

Bobbi Kristina’s duet with mom on Good Morning America this week could be the first in series designed to help the teen launch a solo career, snitches say.

GMA co-hosts Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer joined the R&B diva on stage for a rendition of “I’m Every Woman” during today’s taping. Bobbi Kristina, Whitney’s 16-year-old daughter with ex-husband Bobby Brown, was also on-hand for the performance.

Whitney’s interview and live set will air on Good Morning America Wednesday, Sept. 2.

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“I shed a lot of stuff, a lot of unnecessary weight in the last three or four years. I left a lot of old luggage behind, and when I did, the blessings just started pouring on me, and the light in my spirit started to lift again,” Whitney tells the magazine. “I’m really humbled, and I thank God that people love me, but I [really] thank God that God loves me. I thank Him for chastening my heart, for never letting go. What I did sometimes … I went off and did my thing, but He never let me go.”

Whitney On Her Retreat From The Public Eye: “I was just ready to lay back and raise my daughter and just watch her grow and nurture her. And my mother’s getting older. I wanted to spend more time with my mom [because during] most of my 20s and 30s, [I] was dealing with making records and traveling the world and being this thing — icon, you know — whatever this has turned into.”

Whitney On Her Relationship With Daughter Bobbi Kristina, 16: “She and I are not only mother and daughter, but we’re good friends. I want her to trust me, to be able to trust in me, to know that I’m not going nowhere. If she knows that I’m there for her, she can depend on me. I’m the dependable one; she can depend on her mommy.”

Whitney Houston covers the October issue of Ebony, on newsstands September 8.