Yolonda Ross is set to play Whitney Houston‘s longtime good friend and assistant, who was also rumored to be her lesbian lover – Robyn Crawford in the Lifetime movie, “I Will Always Love You, The Whitney Houston Story”.

Not a stranger to playing gay, Yolonda made her feature film debut in the Award winning independent film “Stranger Inside” which was directed by Cheryl Dunye in 2001. She also stared in Slippery Slope.

The Whitney Houston biopic is being directed by Angela Bassett (her debut), starring Yaya DaCosta Alafia as Houston, and Arlen Escarpeta as Bobby Brown.

The film will chronicle the headline-making partnership between the iconic singer, actress, producer and model, and singer, songwriter Bobby Brown – from the time they first met at the very height of their celebrity, to their courtship and tumultuous marriage.

Bassett is directing the film, which is tentatively titled “Whitney Houston,” from a script penned by Shem Bitterman (“Betty & Coretta” – the Lifetime Original Movie that Bassett starred in last year).

“I really just want to tell a story about a boy and a girl who fell in love. And these are the words and this is the place, and these are the people on the outside, you know? And I want to be as honest as I can about doing that.”

Angela Bassett

The film is scheduled to debut in 2015.