Lifetime aired its biopic on Whitney Houston, called "Whitney," on Saturday and, despite its surprising success, the late singer’s family has attacked the channel for its portrayal of the singer’s life and warned fans. However, the film did not falter and fans welcomed it.

In a statement obtained by Variety, the Houston family criticized Lifetime and those involved in the film for their use of Whitney’s life and criticized them for not contacting anyone from the family or giving them advance copies of the film. Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, wrote the scathing statement, warning fans.

“I say this to all Whitney's family, friends and fan base: If you watch this movie, watch it knowing that Lifetime is notorious for making bad biopics of deceased celebrities and brace yourself for the worst,” she wrote, referring to Lifetime’s previous flops. “You should not be surprised that someone decided to do a made for TV biopic. And, I might add, without the family's blessing and despite her mother's request to not do this movie. It happens every day.”

She then criticized the parties involved for not giving the family a chance to view the film, which she claimed “were assaulting the legacy of another individual.”

“We matter. We're still here. Why wasn't there a call to myself, Gary, Cissy or even her daughter? Why deny selected members of the family an advanced copy of the film?” she wrote.

Despite Pat Houston’s criticisms, the film has done surprisingly well. According to TV by the Numbers, the biopic brought 4.5 million viewers. Fans have also reacted well to the film.

HollywoodLife.com reports fans have been pleased with the film and hailed director Angela Bassett for her work as well as Deborah Cox, who sang in place of Whitney Houston. Perhaps a reason the film has done well and why the family has not been pleased with it is its focus on her relationship with Bobby Brown as well as the depiction of her drug use.

Yaya DeCosta, who played the late singer, had no hesitation going into the project, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and only laments she did not have more time to research her life.

“If it were a big budget feature, I would shoot it over a number of months and we would have more resources. I'm sure had been in that scenario, I would have had the opportunity to try to contact someone,” she said, adding that TV movies are produced in less time. They only filmed for 20 days.

She added that the reason why her death was not covered was because it had been too recent.

“Her passing was pretty recent, I think too recent to explore on the screen. People want to remember the good times and feel good about who she really was. It was a very tactful choice and because of that choice, it's a film that I'm proud to be of,” DeCosta said.