For her directorial debut, actress Angle Bassett decided to make a TV movie about the life of her friend and Waiting to Exhale co-star Whitney Houston. The movie premiered on Lifetime on January 17, and the portrayal of Houston in the film added fuel to the rumors that the singer was in a relationship with her longtime friend, Robyn Crawford. In an interview with ETOnline, Bassett defended her depiction of the late singer. Bassett said, “There always has been [rumors] and they still persist and I don’t know. But, there was always the speculation, so my thing was, let it remain. But it’d be however the audience sees it. If they read into it, that’s what they read into [regarding] their life – two women who are close and love each other and support one another.”

Yolanda Ross, who plays Crawford in the film, also weighed in on the rumors. When she was asked if she thinks that the rumors were true, the actress simply said, “Whether or not it was more than that in terms of them being a couple, we can’t say that because it was not confirmed.” However, she revealed that she used this particular aspect of Houston and Crawford’s friendship to inspire her performance. “I know that I could play the emotions — how I’d feel, if I was that close with somebody. And if then, they started seeing someone else. I think as a human, jealousy comes into mind… hurtfulness… all of these different emotions.”

The biopic was slammed by Houston’s family in a statement released by Whitney’s sister-in-law, Pat Houston. Pat said of Bassett, “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.”

Despite Whitney’s immediate family not being pleased with the film, Bassett has the approval of Whitney’s cousin, Dionne Warwick. According to Bassett, “It turned out wonderfully. She was pleased with the story and with how we told it and that made me pleased… She clapped and said, ‘Thank you’, and, ‘This will be a good thing’.”

Are you watching #Whitney TONIGHT at 8/7c? pic.twitter.com/f56Xy8lDMn

— Lifetime (@lifetimetv) January 17, 2015