Denzel Washington is reflecting on his relationship with the late Whitney Houston.

The pair costarred together in the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife” and developed a friendship. Houston died from an accidental drowning in 2012 at age 48.

Washington spoke about the singer and actress during a career retrospective at the recent American Black Film Festival in Miami, according to People magazine.

| Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington in a scene from "The Preacher's Wife." David Lee/Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

“I always felt like I wanted to protect her,” he said. “You know? She wanted to be so tough, but she really wasn’t.”

The remake of the 1947 film “The Bishop’s Wife” also costarred Courtney Vance.

“For me to be playing her husband, I was in a state of euphoric shock,” Vance told People of Houston in November. “I loved her so much. It was a turning point in my life and Whitney was a huge, huge part of that.”

He said he wasn’t aware at the time of the extent of her problems with substance abuse.

“We just were on sets together and respecting each other,” the actor said. “But I didn’t go into the depth of what was happening in her life.”