Angela Bassett to Direct Whitney Houston Biopic

She starred alongside her in the 1995 romantic drama Waiting to Exhale, and now Angela Bassett is preparing to honour her late friend Whitney Houston by directing her biopic.

The Lifetime TV Channel has announced that the Oscar-nominated actress will work on the film, which is expected to air in 2015.

The made-for- TV movie, which will be Bassett's directional debut, will focus on the turbulent relationship of the I Will Always Love You singer and her former husband Bobby Brown.

Not only will it follow the singer's rise to fame but it will also show how her and Brown's often volatile marriage.

Houston had divorced from Brown by the time she was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel suite in February 2012. The official coroner's report ruled that she accidentally drowned in a bathtub because of heart disease and chronic cocaine use.

Brown and Houston married in 1992 and welcomed daughter Bobbi Kristina a year later. For many years the R'n'B bad boy was blamed by fans and Whitney Houston's family for turning the former church girl to a life of drink and drugs.

However Houston's older brother Michael confessed to Oprah in 2013 that it was him who introduced the songstress to crack cocaine in the 80s.

Bassett, who played the role of Tina Turner in the 1993 biopic What's Love Got To Do With It, said she felt a responsibly to tell her talented friend's story.

"I have such regard for both Whitney's and Bobby's amazing talents and accomplishments, and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story," Bassett said.

The cast for the film has not be announced.