‘Brace yourselves for the worst’
Angry response: The Lifetime Original Movie, Whitney - starring Yaya DaCosta (pictured) - was met with a critical statement from the later singer’s sister-in-law Pat Houston
The long-awaited biopic about Whitney Houston aired on Lifetime, on American TV earlier this month. And while the Angela Bassett-directed TV movie, simply titled Whitney, received a mixed response from both critics and fans, the late singing sensation’s estate were unequivocally disappointed with the result.
The film focuses on Whitney’s (Yaya DaCosta) tumultuous relationship and marriage with singer-songwriter Bobby Brown (Arlen Escarpeta) before her untimely death aged just 48 in February 2012. Pat Houston, president of the singer’s estate and her sister-in-law, issued a critical statement about the movie on Houston’s official website, declaring it was made without the family’s blessing and accusing the project of ‘assaulting’ the I Will Always Love You hit-maker’s legacy.
‘I say this to all Whitney’s family, friends and fan base: If you watch this movie, watch it knowing that Lifetime is notorious for making bad biopics of deceased celebrities and brace yourself for the worst,’ Pat wrote. ‘What lifts up one person in the headlines may in fact destroy another. I don’t think it ever entered their minds that they were assaulting the legacy of another individual; they just want the job or the opportunity to shine.
‘But to do so in such an incredible way, to go after someone who cannot correct what you get wrong, someone who – like so many people, and especially women – struggled to hold up their humanity and live with dignity despite their personal challenges, is wrong.’
The cutting statement also criticised American Horror Story’s Bassett for exploiting her friendship with Whitney, scathingly saying, ‘misrepresenting the term friendship to advance an agenda is not only disrespectful and dishonest but a slap in the face to her true and loyal friends.’
The popular singer’s family have been opposed to the made-for-TV film ever since it was first given the green light, so their response comes as little surprise.
Meanwhile, lead actress Yaya DaCosta has spoken about the challenge of portraying the late superstar.
Yaya, whose credits include The Butler and The Kids Are All Right, told the AP: ‘I’m not a singer. But even if I were, Whitney Houston was a very specific kind of singer. ‘Beyond any mimicry, there was a certain essence that I challenged myself to capture on stage. It meant exuding a confidence that had to be real. And in becoming her, I found a new level of confidence in myself.’
Growing up in Harlem, Yaya – who first found fame on America’s Next Top Model in 2004 – has always been a fan of Whitney’s and was inspired as a teenager by the vision of beauty she represented. ‘I loved how people looked up to someone who was a slender woman at a time when, in the community I grew up in, being a skinny little girl was not cute and no boys liked me.
‘I didn’t fit in, so it was nice that people looked up to Whitney Houston,’ she enthused. ‘Everybody agreed that she was beautiful, so I decided I must be, too.’
© Daily Mail, London