50 Fun Facts About Waiting to Exhale

After her husband walks out in Waiting to Exhale, what does Angela Bassett's Bernadine set on fire?

His car and clothes go up in flames in the film's most famous scene. Bernadine then sells the rest of his belongings for a dollar each.

Which job does Whitney Houston's Savannah, the newcomer among the four friends, hold in Waiting to Exhale?

Television producer is Savannah's job, and a successful one. Her mother still pushes her toward Kenneth, an old flame who is married to someone else.

Which actor, a future Oscar winner as Idi Amin, made his feature directing debut with Waiting to Exhale?

Forest Whitaker also shaped the film's sound, working closely on the soundtrack album as well as the picture.

Which novelist wrote the 1992 bestseller behind Waiting to Exhale and then co-wrote the film's screenplay?

Terry McMillan broke through with the book, her third novel, which entered the New York Times bestseller list at number six.

In which desert city do the four friends of Waiting to Exhale live, the same setting as the novel?

Phoenix also hosted the shoot, with further scenes filmed in nearby Chandler and Fountain Hills.

Which hitmaker masterminded the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, an album performed entirely by Black women?

Babyface produced the whole album and composed the film's score. The record topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks and sold over twelve million copies worldwide.

Whitney Houston's Waiting to Exhale single Exhale (Shoop Shoop) was only the third song ever to do what?

Debut atop the Hot 100 was a feat only Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey had managed before. The ballad then spent a then-record eleven straight weeks at number two.

Which singer recorded Not Gon' Cry, the Waiting to Exhale anthem inspired by Bernadine's failed marriage?

Mary J. Blige took the song to number two on the Hot 100 and to the top of the R&B chart, where it stayed for five weeks.

Which later hit series about four women friends did NPR say used a formula similar to Waiting to Exhale?

Sex and the City arrived three years later with four professional women trading stories of dating disasters, and went on to earn 54 Emmy nominations.

Which action star appears uncredited in Waiting to Exhale as James, the civil rights attorney Bernadine meets?

Wesley Snipes took no screen credit for the role. His character has a terminally ill wife at home, yet he urges Bernadine to revive her old business ambitions.

Which celebrated tap dancer plays Marvin King, the new neighbor Gloria falls for in Waiting to Exhale?

Gregory Hines plays the new neighbor Gloria falls in love with. It is Marvin who persuades Gloria to loosen her grip on her teenage son.

Which actor, later President David Palmer on 24, plays Savannah's married lover Kenneth in Waiting to Exhale?

Dennis Haysbert plays the man Savannah keeps hoping will leave his wife. She finally ends the affair for good by the film's close.

Which actor, a year after playing Bubba in Forrest Gump, appears as Robin's one-time lover Troy in Waiting to Exhale?

Mykelti Williamson turns the brief part into one of the film's comic highlights. He also appeared in the crime epic Heat the same year.

Which Clueless and Scrubs actor plays Tarik, the teenage son of Gloria, in Waiting to Exhale?

Donald Faison appeared in the film the same year Clueless made him famous as Murray. His character is 17 and on the verge of leaving the nest.

Which actress, married to John Travolta, plays the bookkeeper Bernadine's husband leaves her for in Waiting to Exhale?

Kelly Preston played Kathleen without a screen credit, a year before she appeared opposite Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.

Which future Breaking Bad villain appears uncredited in Waiting to Exhale as David, the ex-husband of Gloria?

Giancarlo Esposito took the small part without a credit, long before he became famous as the drug kingpin Gus Fring.

Which actor, later Bunk Moreland on The Wire, plays Robin's co-worker Michael in Waiting to Exhale?

Wendell Pierce plays the smitten colleague Robin spends a single night with. He later played a trombonist in the New Orleans drama Treme.

Which former Miss USA, later a Real Housewives of Atlanta star, appears in Waiting to Exhale as Denise?

Kenya Moore won the pageant crown in 1993, two years before playing a woman who treats Savannah as a romantic rival.

Which Soul Food and Third Watch actor plays John, the husband who walks out on Bernadine in Waiting to Exhale?

Michael Beach got his big break with the role after earlier parts in Lean on Me, True Romance and Short Cuts.

Which Cool Runnings star, billed by just his first name, plays Robin's married lover Russell in Waiting to Exhale?

Leon, born Leon Robinson, led the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1993 Disney comedy and later played David Ruffin in the miniseries The Temptations.

From which city does Whitney Houston's Savannah move to join her friends at the start of Waiting to Exhale?

Denver is the home Savannah leaves behind after a run of failed relationships. On screen she is 33, three years younger than in the novel.

Which business did Bernadine dream of starting before she put her husband's career first in Waiting to Exhale?

A catering firm was the plan Bernadine shelved during eleven years of marriage, spent raising two children and helping build her husband's company.

Which business does Loretta Devine's Gloria own and run as a single mother in Waiting to Exhale?

A beauty salon keeps Gloria busy, and by the end she learns to look after herself as well as her business and her son.

To which country does Gloria finally let her son Tarik travel with Up with People in Waiting to Exhale?

Spain is where Tarik heads with the touring musical troupe, once Gloria accepts that she has been too protective of him.

What does Lela Rochon's Robin decide to do at the end of Waiting to Exhale after leaving Russell for good?

Raise her baby alone is Robin's choice once she learns she is pregnant by Russell, the married man she had been seeing for years.

What does David, the ex-husband of Gloria and father of her son, reveal to her in Waiting to Exhale?

That he is gay is the news David delivers, adding that he had always been bisexual. It leaves her son as the only man in Gloria's life.

On which holiday night does Savannah go out with Lionel, played by Jeffrey D. Sams, in Waiting to Exhale?

New Year's Eve brings Savannah a date with Lionel, whose so-called friend Denise treats her as a rival.

How does Bernadine's husband John retaliate after she destroys and sells his belongings in Waiting to Exhale?

He drains their accounts, which turns the split into a court fight over assets. Bernadine comes out of it with a large divorce settlement.

Waiting to Exhale opened in American cinemas just before which holiday in 1995, topping the weekend box office?

Christmas weekend gave the film a first-place opening of $14.1 million, on the way to about $82 million worldwide from a $16 million budget.

Which Hollywood studio released Waiting to Exhale and was reportedly surprised by how many women turned out?

20th Century Fox backed the film on a modest budget, even though fans of the novel had been packing the author's readings by the thousands.

Angela Bassett came to Waiting to Exhale two years after an Oscar-nominated turn as which singer?

Tina Turner was the role, in the 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do with It, that won Bassett a Golden Globe and made her a star.

Waiting to Exhale was Whitney Houston's second film; which 1992 romantic thriller had been her screen debut?

The Bodyguard cast her as the singer Rachel Marron opposite Kevin Costner, three years before she joined the ensemble as Savannah.

Loretta Devine, Gloria in Waiting to Exhale, rose to fame in the original Broadway cast of which hit musical?

Dreamgirls, loosely based on the story of the Supremes, opened in 1981 with Devine as Lorrell Robinson, a role she helped shape in workshops.

Lela Rochon, Robin in Waiting to Exhale, had earlier played Sunshine opposite Eddie Murphy in which 1989 film?

Harlem Nights gave Rochon a memorable early part, six years before her turn as Robin earned an MTV Movie Award nomination for breakthrough performance.

Which 1996 holiday comedy opposite Denzel Washington was Whitney Houston's next film after Waiting to Exhale?

The Preacher's Wife remade the 1947 film The Bishop's Wife, and its soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album of all time.

Which 1998 Sandra Bullock romance did the director of Waiting to Exhale make as his next feature film?

Hope Floats paired Bullock with Harry Connick Jr., and its director once again took a hands-on role with the soundtrack album.

Waiting to Exhale arrived ten years after which Steven Spielberg film of an Alice Walker novel about Black women?

The Color Purple drew acclaim and controversy in 1985, and for a decade afterwards a studio ensemble film led by Black women remained a rarity.

Which ceremony named Waiting to Exhale Outstanding Motion Picture and honoured Angela Bassett as lead actress?

NAACP Image Awards also went to Loretta Devine for her supporting role and to the soundtrack, while Whitney Houston was a nominee.

Which landscape of sandstone buttes, a favourite of Western director John Ford, appears in Waiting to Exhale?

Monument Valley in Utah hosted part of the shoot, the same skyline seen in Ford's Stagecoach and The Searchers.

Which 2010 sequel novel revisits the four friends of Waiting to Exhale fifteen years after the original story?

Getting to Happy was due to become a film with the original stars, but the plan was halted after Whitney Houston died in 2012.

Which singer took Sittin' Up in My Room, from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, to number two on the Hot 100?

Brandy's hit was the album's second single, and it won Best Song from a Movie at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards.

Which singer's Let It Flow, from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, topped the Hot 100 as a double A-side in 1996?

Toni Braxton paired it with You're Makin' Me High from her album Secrets, and the double release became her first number-one single.

Which gospel singer and close friend duets with Whitney Houston on Count on Me from Waiting to Exhale?

CeCe Winans was chosen because the pair's real friendship mirrored the bond in the film, and the duet became a top-ten hit on the Hot 100.

Which veteran singer recorded It Hurts Like Hell for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, to warm reviews from critics?

Aretha Franklin's performance is one the album's creator still names among his favourites, though the single itself missed the Hot 100.

Which singer covers the Rodgers and Hart standard My Funny Valentine on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack?

Chaka Khan's cover is the only one of the album's sixteen tracks that was not written or co-written for the project by its mastermind.

Which girl group recorded This Is How It Works, co-written by Lisa Lopes, for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack?

TLC never released the track as a single, yet it reached the R&B airplay chart on unsolicited radio play in early 1996.

Which Grammy did Exhale (Shoop Shoop), the lead single of Waiting to Exhale, win for its songwriter in 1997?

Best R&B Song went to the track's writer, a bright spot among eleven Grammy nominations for the soundtrack that included Album of the Year.

Which Oscar-winning Rain Man screenwriter co-wrote the Waiting to Exhale script with the novel's author?

Ronald Bass teamed with the same novelist again three years later on How Stella Got Her Groove Back, another vehicle for Angela Bassett.

Which filmmaker was attached to oversee a Waiting to Exhale series when ABC began developing one in 2020?

Lee Daniels was reported in November 2020 to be steering the project under his studio deal, a reboot of the film for the small screen.

Which Chicago Sun-Times critic gave Waiting to Exhale a positive review when many other reviewers were lukewarm?

Roger Ebert judged the film a pleasurable piece of escapism for women in the audience, a kinder verdict than the mixed notices it drew elsewhere.