--- description: Directed by Angela Bassett title: Watch the First Trailer for Lifetime’s Whitney Houston Biopic image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch the First Trailer for Lifetime's Whitney Houston Biopic by [Entertainment Weekly / Ariana Bacle](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Entertainment Weekly / Ariana Bacle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 7, 2014 9:58 PM CUT by [Entertainment Weekly / Ariana Bacle](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Entertainment Weekly / Ariana Bacle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 7, 2014 9:58 PM CUT After months of speculation about Lifetime’s upcoming Whitney Houston biopic, the first trailer is here — and shows both the singer’s professional highs and personal lows: One moment she’s singing “I Will Always Love You” in a sparkly dress onstage; the next she’s engaging in a screaming match with Bobby Brown. [Yaya DaCosta](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/07/10/first-look-whitney-houston-lifetime/ "undefined"), a one-time _America’s Next Top Model_ _Contestant,_ plays Houston in the Angela Bassett-directed film. Bassett, who’s making her directorial debut with _Whitney,_ wanted to focus on Houston’s relationship with Brown, one that was often perceived as tumultuous. “I really just want to tell a story about a boy and a girl who fell in love,” Bassett told [_EW_ in June](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/26/whitney-houston-biopic-director-angela-bassett/ "undefined"). But the trailer focuses more on Houston and Brown falling _out_ of love than in it — they fight, they scream, they cry. When they aren’t fighting, Houston is snorting drugs — and occasionally appearing on stage to do the thing she’s famous for: sing. _Whitney_ airs Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime. [_This article originally appeared at EW.com_](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/12/07/whitney-houston-lifetime-trailer-biopic "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3622583/lifetime-trailer-whitney-houston/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3622583/lifetime-trailer-whitney-houston/"},"headline":"Watch the First Trailer for Lifetime's Whitney Houston Biopic","datePublished":"2014-12-07T21:58:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:38:30.599Z","description":"Directed by Angela Bassett","url":"https://time.com/3622583/lifetime-trailer-whitney-houston/","keywords":["Television","movies","Lifetime","Whitney Houston"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Entertainment Weekly / Ariana Bacle"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3622583/lifetime-trailer-whitney-houston/","name":"Watch the First Trailer for Lifetime's Whitney Houston Biopic"}}]}] ```