Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 movie starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett and directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name by Terry McMillan and also stars Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon. The story centers on four female friends and their relationships with men and one another. All of them are "holding their breath" until the day they can feel comfortable in a committed relationship with a man.

Savannah (Whitney Houston) is a television producer who holds on to the belief that one day her married lover (Dennis Haysbert) will leave his wife for her. Bernadine (Angela Bassett) abandoned her own career and desires of having a catering business to raise a family. Her husband is now leaving her for a white woman. Robin (Lela Rochon) is the long-time mistress of Russell (Leon Robinson). After dumping him she has problems finding a decent man of her own. Gloria (Loretta Devine) is a beauty salon owner and single mother raising a teenage son. After years alone, she falls in love with a new neighbor, Marvin (Gregory Hines).

The soundtrack to the film featured many African-American female artists. The #1 hit song "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", sung by Whitney Houston, is on the soundtrack to this film, as well as the Top 10 singles "Not Gon' Cry" by Mary J. Blige, "Sittin Up In My Room" by Brandy, and "Count On Me" by Whitney Houston and CeCe Winans.