Jordin Sparks came to musical notoriety as the youngest winner of American Idol when she became the season six champ at the tender age of seventeen. She’s now set for a career in film as the title character in the remake of Sparkle, a film which gained much attention after the tragic death of co-star Whitney Houston.

The Morning MIX with Scott McKenzie spoke with her this morning about working with Houston on what was to be her final film role.

“To see Whitney’s last performance, she just absolutely delivers and shines, and I think everybody should go and see her and get to see all that is Whitney Houston,” she said.

She was also thankful that the film was not rushed into theaters immediately following Houston’s death. ”Had we have had to start doing press a couple weeks after she had passed I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it. I was so devastated that I cut myself off and secluded myself for about a month,” she revealed. “At this point now, being able to talk about her and talk about the memories I have with her, it’s almost therapeutic in a way. I get to remember how amazing she was and how great she was on set with us and how humble. She just wanted to get to know all of us and see all of us shine. You don’t really see that very often and she was just so incredible.”

Sparks has nothing but glowing things to say about the singer who was her own idol. “It’s kind of like I’ve taken on this responsibility to tell people about the way she was and how great she was. I feel like it’s important because her legacy is this movie. This is the last piece of the puzzle and she is incredible,” said Sparks. “And because the movie was so important to her it’s become equally important if not more important to me to represent it in the best way possible.”

She added, “She’s always gonna be a part of my story. Her legacy and my story are forever intertwined. It blows my mind to think about it.”