It looks like trouble is brewing for the Lifetime network once again.
After the problems they experienced with the casting of Aaliyah in the upcoming biopic Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, another arises as Cissy Houston, mother of legendary singer Whitney Houston speaks out against her daughter's biopic, I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston story.
"Lifetime has chosen to go ahead with the movie about Whitney in spite of my family's objections," Houston, 80, told Entertainment Tonight last Tuesday, July 22. "No one connected with this movie knew Whitney or anything about her relationship with Bobby [Brown]"
"In the two years since Whitney's death [in 2012], many people have stepped forward to speak about their close relationship with her," Houston added. "I find it difficult to believe people who knew and supposedly love her would participate in a movie about her done by folks who didn't know her."
She finished with a plea to let the deceased singer continue to be in peace. "We are exhausted by the continuing misinformation and comments offered by people who did not know her. Please please let her rest."
The film's director, Angela Bassett, who was also Whitney Houston's former co-star in the movie Waiting to Exhale, has denied allegations that they did not reach out to Houston's family before doing the biopic. In another interview, she told Entertainment Weekly that she had contacted Houston's family about the movie. She also said that she read Cissy Houston's book for inspiration.
"We reached out to them in the early days; of course we're not going to do the movie and not say anything to them," Bassett explained. "We paid our respects and let the conversation be had, just to get their okay. They certainly could have been not involved and against it."
Actress Yaya DeCosta will portray Whitney in the upcoming Lifetime biopic. It will tell the story of the singer's turbulent romance with Brown, with whom she had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina. They were married for 15 years. Apart from the biopic, a 2005 Bravo reality show, Being Bobby Brown has also documented their relationship previously.
