Taraji P. Henson Says Hollywood ‘Lied to Me' About Black Movies and TV Not Selling Overseas, Spent Years Being ‘Graceful in Getting Paid Less … Not Anymore Though!'
Taraji P. Henson joined Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, at the Cannes Film Festival for a Kering Women in Motion Talk in which the Oscar nominee spoke honestly about course-correcting her priorities in Hollywood. Henson recently took a month off from work and relocated to Bali after feeling 'discouraged' by the film and TV industry machine.
'I was just frustrated and it was making me bitter, and I'm not a bitter person,' Henson said, nodding to continued struggles in Hollywood over the lack of prominent roles, pay and awards recognition for women of color. 'I made a promise to myself if I ever got there then it's time to walk away. I'm not serving myself or the audience or the characters I play. Thank god I did that. I came back refreshed and with a new perspective.
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'Sometimes in the industry you make it about the trophies and the awards and that's never why i got into it,' Henson added. 'I came into this to change lives. The arts saved me. I was a little Black girl in the hood in D.C. during the crack epidemic. I'm supposed to be a statistic. I wasn't supposed to make it out but I did.'
Smith brought data to the conversation that supported Smith's frustration with Hollywood. Smith noted that while 54% of the top 200 movies of last year prominently featured girls and women, only 13% were women of color and only 1% featured a woman of color 45 years old or older.
'There are few women of color being given the opportunity,' Smith said about her takeaway from the numbers.
Henson said it was important for her to 'stop chasing the things I never came into the industry for' like awards and 'refocus.' She also noted that she had spent years being 'graceful in getting paid less than. Not anymore though!' When she returned from her month break in Bali, she dove head first into non-acting business opportunities like her beauty brand TPH 'instead of relying on that check from Hollywood.'
'I urge you all to speak up for yourself,' Henson told the women in attendance at the conversation. 'I have worked my butt off to garner the following I have. My following rides for me. That's an audience I procured through my hard work and the characters I play. I know a studio, when they call on me, they are calling on me because they know all these people are going to come and show up. That's my power. You need me because you need my following. Thank you, social media. Once I figured that out, I just started speaking up for myself.'
Henson said one of the defining moments in realizing she had power in Hollywood was when she discovered the industry's claim that Black projects don't sell oversees is just a myth. It happened during the international press tour for Fox's music drama series 'Empire,' which turned Henson into an international star as her character, the outspoken Cookie, became the series' most iconic role.
'When I did the international press for 'Empire,' up until then I was told Black doesn't translate overseas,' she said. 'Really? We went to Paris. Lee Daniels kept me a secret to the audience at a Q&A. The fans started asking the Cookie questions and he said, 'Why don't you ask her.' Before he could finish saying my name, the entire room erupted in applause and was screaming. For me? I got up on the stage and I ugly-faced cried. The myth was busting. You lied to me my entire career. I leave the stage and there are fans outside who know my name. That changed the game.'
As Henson re-enters Hollywood with new perspective, she said she is embracing 'the freedom of doing what I want to do and not being controlled by the industry or the machine.' She next stars in the Netflix drama film 'Straw,' streaming June 6.
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an hour ago
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Did the house help you get into character? Carell: My character is very passé about all of it. Seen bigger, seen better. None of the trappings mean anything, really, to any of these guys, except maybe [Schwartzman's] character. Material things just have no meaning, the nice cars or whatever. They're so far beyond that, their lives aren't even about that. That's just incidental. Smith: Jesse [Armstrong] said this early on: "When you walk in, there's nothing impressive about this." As the wealthiest man in the world, you're just constantly in impressive environments, so you're numb to being wowed by a $65 million overpriced piece of real estate, because it's on a mountain with its own private ski lift. Like it's cool, convenient, fun. But it's not an amazing house. [When Armstrong said] that to me early on, when I was walking in, I was, like, "Oh, that's just really helpful." Just for a person to have lost all sense of awe over really extraordinary things. 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Schwartzman: That spiral staircase that goes from floor 1 to 7 in a straight shot - it just became a weird physical metaphor of the movie for me. Kind of a downward spiral. That shape is the movie to me. This story was produced by The Salt Lake Tribune and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. © Stacker Media, LLC.
