Waiting to Exhale
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50 free Waiting to Exhale trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Waiting to Exhale put four Black women and their friendship at the centre of a big studio film, and audiences turned it into one of the surprise hits of 1995. Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon play Savannah, Bernadine, Gloria and Robin, friends who lean on each other through bad dates, worse husbands and a year of fresh starts. This quiz covers the story and its best-known scenes, the stars and the familiar faces in smaller roles, the novel the film came from, and the soundtrack that sent single after single up the charts. It is written for fans who have seen the film more than once, for book clubs revisiting the novel, and for anyone putting together a 90s movie night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01After her husband walks out in Waiting to Exhale, what does Angela Bassett's Bernadine set on fire?
His car and clothes
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.
Q 02Which job does Whitney Houston's Savannah, the newcomer among the four friends, hold in Waiting to Exhale?
Television producer
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.
Q 03Which actor, a future Oscar winner as Idi Amin, made his feature directing debut with Waiting to Exhale?
Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker also shaped the film's sound, working closely on the soundtrack album as well as the picture.
Q 04Which novelist wrote the 1992 bestseller behind Waiting to Exhale and then co-wrote the film's screenplay?
Terry McMillan
Terry McMillan broke through with the book, her third novel, which entered the New York Times bestseller list at number six.
Q 05In which desert city do the four friends of Waiting to Exhale live, the same setting as the novel?
Phoenix
Phoenix also hosted the shoot, with further scenes filmed in nearby Chandler and Fountain Hills.
Q 06Which hitmaker masterminded the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, an album performed entirely by Black women?
Babyface
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.
Q 07Whitney Houston's Waiting to Exhale single Exhale (Shoop Shoop) was only the third song ever to do what?
Debut atop the Hot 100
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.
Q 08Which singer recorded Not Gon' Cry, the Waiting to Exhale anthem inspired by Bernadine's failed marriage?
Mary J. Blige
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.
Q 09Which later hit series about four women friends did NPR say used a formula similar to Waiting to Exhale?
Sex and the City
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.
Q 10Which action star appears uncredited in Waiting to Exhale as James, the civil rights attorney Bernadine meets?
Wesley Snipes
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.
Q 11Which celebrated tap dancer plays Marvin King, the new neighbor Gloria falls for in Waiting to Exhale?
Gregory Hines
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.
Q 12Which actor, later President David Palmer on 24, plays Savannah's married lover Kenneth in Waiting to Exhale?
Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Haysbert plays the man Savannah keeps hoping will leave his wife. She finally ends the affair for good by the film's close.
Q 13Which actor, a year after playing Bubba in Forrest Gump, appears as Robin's one-time lover Troy in Waiting to Exhale?
Mykelti Williamson
Q 21From which city does Whitney Houston's Savannah move to join her friends at the start of Waiting to Exhale?
Denver
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.
Q 22Which business did Bernadine dream of starting before she put her husband's career first in Waiting to Exhale?
A catering firm
A catering firm was the plan Bernadine shelved during eleven years of marriage, spent raising two children and helping build her husband's company.
Q 23Which business does Loretta Devine's Gloria own and run as a single mother in Waiting to Exhale?
A beauty salon
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.
Q 14Which Clueless and Scrubs actor plays Tarik, the teenage son of Gloria, in Waiting to Exhale?
Donald Faison
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.
Q 15Which actress, married to John Travolta, plays the bookkeeper Bernadine's husband leaves her for in Waiting to Exhale?
Kelly Preston
Kelly Preston played Kathleen without a screen credit, a year before she appeared opposite Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.
Q 16Which future Breaking Bad villain appears uncredited in Waiting to Exhale as David, the ex-husband of Gloria?
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito took the small part without a credit, long before he became famous as the drug kingpin Gus Fring.
Q 17Which actor, later Bunk Moreland on The Wire, plays Robin's co-worker Michael in Waiting to Exhale?
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce plays the smitten colleague Robin spends a single night with. He later played a trombonist in the New Orleans drama Treme.
Q 18Which former Miss USA, later a Real Housewives of Atlanta star, appears in Waiting to Exhale as Denise?
Kenya Moore
Kenya Moore won the pageant crown in 1993, two years before playing a woman who treats Savannah as a romantic rival.
Q 19Which Soul Food and Third Watch actor plays John, the husband who walks out on Bernadine in Waiting to Exhale?
Michael Beach
Michael Beach got his big break with the role after earlier parts in Lean on Me, True Romance and Short Cuts.
Q 20Which Cool Runnings star, billed by just his first name, plays Robin's married lover Russell in Waiting to Exhale?
Leon
Leon, born Leon Robinson, led the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1993 Disney comedy and later played David Ruffin in the miniseries The Temptations.
A beauty salon keeps Gloria busy, and by the end she learns to look after herself as well as her business and her son.
Q 24To which country does Gloria finally let her son Tarik travel with Up with People in Waiting to Exhale?
Spain
Spain is where Tarik heads with the touring musical troupe, once Gloria accepts that she has been too protective of him.
Q 25What does Lela Rochon's Robin decide to do at the end of Waiting to Exhale after leaving Russell for good?
Raise her baby alone
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.
Q 26What does David, the ex-husband of Gloria and father of her son, reveal to her in Waiting to Exhale?
That he is gay
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.
Q 27On which holiday night does Savannah go out with Lionel, played by Jeffrey D. Sams, in Waiting to Exhale?
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve brings Savannah a date with Lionel, whose so-called friend Denise treats her as a rival.
Q 28How does Bernadine's husband John retaliate after she destroys and sells his belongings in Waiting to Exhale?
He drains their accounts
He drains their accounts, which turns the split into a court fight over assets. Bernadine comes out of it with a large divorce settlement.
Q 29Waiting to Exhale opened in American cinemas just before which holiday in 1995, topping the weekend box office?
Christmas
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.
Q 30Which Hollywood studio released Waiting to Exhale and was reportedly surprised by how many women turned out?
20th Century Fox
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.