CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Lifetime Movie Includes Whitney Houston's Lesbian Lover Storyline

The Lifetime movie on the life of Whitney Houston directed by Angela Bassett and starring YYa Dacosta will apparently include a storyline about the long lesbian rumored relationship between Whitney and Robyn Crawford that was "more than just friendship."

The Daily Beast has an interview with the actress Yolonda Ross who plays Robyn in the film:

I have to confess, I had no idea that Whitney had a rumored gay lover before reading about your role in this movie. No clue!Really?! That’s funny. I was here in New York before she was with Bobby. So I knew of Robyn. It’s funny how many people don’t know of her because they’re younger or people who didn’t get on to Whitney until she was already with Bobby. But I already knew of her and of the whole situation. When you look back at it, it’s interesting how that part, which was a thing that was actually written in the press at one time, was squashed and brushed away when all the other stuff happened in her life later.[...]But because this movie doesn’t actually go out and say “they were lovers!”, how do you portray their relationship? Were you playing up or, on the flip side, shying away from portraying a romantic attraction?No, I wasn’t shying away from it. She’s a beautiful woman. And from what I knew of Robyn then, I don’t think she was in the closet. It’s a love and it’s an admiration. So that was played there. How much of it is a love that’s between two lovers is a different story, because that, then, would have called for there to be different kinds of scenes in the movie. I played it as love and longing. Ultimately, what’s happening with them is that the person who Robyn loves is leaving. No matter if you’re lovers or a best friend, when someone you love leaves to get married, your relationship is going to change. That’s what I played. And that’s what it was.

The movie debuts on the Lifetime network on January 17, 2015.