The Lifetime movie about Whitney Houston -- which is surprisingly sympathetic to ex-Bobby Brown -- is set to air tomorrow, Jan. 17. Now, Pat Houston, Whitney's sister-in-law and President of the late singer's estate, has issued a statement about the film.
And seems to take aim squarely at the film's director Angela Bassett, and at Lifetime itself. "I don't think it ever entered their minds that they were assaulting the legacy of another individual," Pat writes.
Bassett was, of course, a friend of Whitney's, and the two starred together in Waiting To Exhale. In an interview with The Root this week, Bassett was asked if there were any objections to the movie from the Houston estate.
Pat Houston seems to disagree:
"The needs of Whitney's family matter. We have dealt with her every emotion from the day she was born until the day she died, which gives us absolute position and absolute authority as a family to feel the way we do about her legacy. We matter. We're still here. Why wasn't there a call to myself, Gary, Cissy or even her daughter? Why deny selected members of the family an advanced copy of the film? As we once again enter a season of bereavement and the strategic timing so close to the anniversary of Whitney's death, this is a disappointment that any of us who loved her could do without. This creative pursuit at the expense of the integrity of such an iconic woman, who is voiceless today, reeks of condemnation and deceit. It reeks of enslavement to an industry that will likely do the same to you one day. As my grandmother used to say, 'Keep living.'"