Angela Basset on Whitney film: ‘I know about being in the spotlight’

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Angela Bassett is standing by her Whitney Houston project.

In an interview with HuffPost Live, first-time director Angela Basset defended her upcoming Lifetime movie on the famous singer. The film has been subject to some harsh criticism – especially from Houston’s mother Cissy.

In a statement earlier this summer, Houston slammed the film:

Lifetime has chosen to go ahead with the movie about Whitney in spite of my family’s objections. No one connected with this movie knew Whitney or anything about her relationship with Bobby.

Bassett said she considers it a “gift” to be given the opportunity to make the film happen and she is prepared to “take her licks” over it. In response to critics, Basset had this to say:

I did spend a little time [with] her, but to know her intimately, intimately — I mean, who does but the person and the Lord they serve? Who knows a person? But I know a little about being in the spotlight, a little about celebrity and its demands, a little about trying to find a mate and the support that’s needed in your industry . . . I know about being a woman, about being a black woman that came up in a little hometown . . . and yet you are able to become a success because of this God-given gift or talent.

Bassett shared the screen with Houston in 1995’s Waiting to Exhale.

The full HuffPost Live segment with Bassett is below: