Taraji P. Henson and her girls (they look fantastic) cover the July issue of Allure. Taraji is really having quite a year, isn’t she? And it couldn’t have happened to a more righteous lady. Taraji’s Allure interview is chock full of interesting quotes and stories and opinions. I would be 100% behind Taraji in everything, but my one qualm is that she’s an apologist for her friend and costar Terrence Howard, who has a lengthy history of physically assaulting women. This is why I don’t watch Empire, even though I want to support Taraji. I just can’t get past Terrence Howard. Some highlights from Allure:
Her Allure shoot: “It was very Diana Ross, very disco, Studio 54, big, big, big hair, lots of jewelry, big earrings, the stuff I like to wear. I’m a ’70s baby so I hate I missed the era of Studio 54 ’cause I would’ve had a good time. I probably would’ve been dead but it would’ve been a good time!”
Working with abusive douchebag Terrence Howard: “I just know him. We trust each other… Let’s pop the trunk to your life and see what’s dysfunctional and what’s bad…. At the end of the day, we’re all human and we got flaws and we got sh-t.”
Her breakout role in Baby Boy (in 2001): “I’ve had so many false starts. If it’s easy, what story are you going to tell? Nobody wants to hear about how easy it was. That doesn’t inspire anyone.”
She doesn’t date costars: “I always wanted to be known for my work. Not who I dated. Not who I slept with…. I have a gift, and my gift is acting. I started in the business at 26 with a kid, so I was smart enough to know reality from fantasy. I didn’t want to blur the lines. This is a job that I have to do. I cannot get caught up in it. And if I sleep with these guys, why would they want to work with me again? The conquest is up. Now I’m just used-up…[she mouths the word ‘p—sy’].”
Men better not interfere with her business: “You have to stay professional. It is a business. I’m not letting no knucklehead dude come between my hard work and my money.”
She knows how to hustle & she’s run her own salon out of her home: “I come from a family of hard workers. Oh, yeah, I knew how to hustle and make money. We used to do wet sets…. I bought a hooded dryer, and I had my box of rollers. I could have gone to jail; I had no license whatsoever. But it was just my friends. They were like, ‘Girl, hook me up.'” Occasionally, Henson still does her own nails. “If I get bored, I’ll put a full set on.”
Taraji’s defense of Terrence Howard rubs me the wrong way, and it reminds me of Jodie Foster’s constant defense of Mel Gibson. Yes, Taraji is right in that everyone has BS and drama in their private lives. But she’s wrong in that Terrence Howard’s “drama” is not something to be set aside with a shrug and a “nobody’s perfect.” Terrence Howard abuses women. He assaults women. And he gets away with it because too many people shrug and ignore it.
As for Taraji thinking she would be seen as “used up” if she slept with or dated a costar…? I’m sure some men do think that way (men like Terrence Howard), but it just seems like she’s insulting the men she works with and she’s insulting herself.
Photos courtesy of Allure.
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