Angela Bassett Talks ‘Whitney’ Biopic, Bobbi Kristina

Florian Schneider/Lifetime(NEW YORK) — Angela Bassett starred alongside Whitney Houston in 1995’s hit Waiting to Exhale, but she also made her directorial debut this year with her film Whitney, based off the icon’s career and relationship with Bobby Brown.

Bassett, 56, says Houston — who died in 2012 — meant a lot to her and that the current situation with Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, is “tragic.”

“I do try to keep my ear open to what some of the developments are,” she told ABC News Friday.

Brown, 21, has been in the hospital since being discovered three weeks ago unresponsive in her Georgia home.

“I pray for it to work out the way God will have it to,” Bassett added.

She also said she can only hope Brown’s family is able to “find a measure of peace with what is really a heart-wrenching situation.”

Bassett was happy with the way her film about Houston turned out when it was released last month.

“For me as an artist, as a woman, I had to step out of my comfort zone. It was a story I was intent on telling correctly because of what Whitney meant to the world, what she meant to me and because we are all Whitney. We all make our choices and we all have our dreams and our aspirations,” she said. “I was very happy with how it turned out.”

Conversations about losing or sick loved ones are difficult, but Bassett stressed “they can be had” as long as they have compassion.

In fact, she spoke to ABC News for an initiative close to her heart called “Let’s Talk Now,” created by Genworth. The idea is to not be afraid to have that conversation now with loved ones about long term care and planning.

Bassett had to deal with different long-term care situations involving both her mother Betty Jane, who died last year, and mother-in-law, who was diagnosed with ALS and is now living with her family.

“I know the importance of it,” she said of having that talk with your kids or other loved ones. “It’s absolutely something we are each going to deal with, our parents as well as ourselves, one day.”

Bassett, who has two children with her husband Courtney B. Vance, said the important thing when having this serious talk is only bringing up what they can handle for their ages.

“We have their grandmother living with us, they get to see that up close and it’s just another part of life,” she said. “It’s unfortunate, but what we need to do is put a plan in place. … So that she can continue to live in comfort to the best of her ability and to what her desires would be. It’s something I wasn’t able to do with my mother, but fortunately I had the resources to care for her.”

The American Horror Story star said while caring for her mother and mother-in-law, she found out nursing homes and assisted living can cost upwards of $100,000 a year.

“Start the conversation early before you’re in a desperate situation,” she said. “The truth is my mother wanted to go to assisted living. My mother-in-law, she did not want to do that … These are your loved ones, this will eventually be you in this situation. You have to think about this.”

As for Bassett herself, the general consensus in Hollywood is that this beauty just simply does not age. She cites staying away from processed foods and sugars and just learning more about what serves her body as she grows and learns over the years.

“More and more water,” she said. “And exercise is good for you. A positive mental outlook is good for you, having a spiritual base and being grateful is good for you. Having a purpose in life, that’s good for you.”

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