EXCLUSIVE
We chat to Hollywood A-lister Taraji P. Henson
Anyone who’s watched Taraji P Henson on screen or stage has probably thought she’d be fun to hang out with. And I’m here to testify: it’s true. ‘Authenticity’ has become a buzzword for the subtle art of selling us everything from social causes to superstardom, but Taraji is unmistakably #relatable.
It’s a testament to the 48-year-old Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner’s talent that someone so humble is known for playing a character that arrives at board meetings draped in colourful furs and headto-toe leopard print. We’re talking about Cookie Lyon, the fierce, fearless and fashionable matriarch of hip-hop’s first family on the TV drama Empire.
‘There are some similarities,’ Taraji says of the character she’s played for the last four years. ‘We’re both the type of person who champions the underdog. Cookie’s also a mother who protects her cubs like a lion, and I definitely understand motherhood.’ But that’s where the parallels end. ‘I leave Cookie on set when I go home,’ she says. ‘I’ve been [acting] for more than 20 years and, through all my training, I’ve come to understand that my entire body is my instrument. Whether Cookie is crying because she’s happy or sad, I have to conjure it like this,’ she says, snapping her finger. ‘I can turn Cookie on and off at a moment’s notice.’
Any traits she wishes she shared with the character that made her the first African-American woman to win a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series? ‘Cookie don’t take no stuff! I tend to bite my tongue and when I get home, I’m like, “Why didn’t I say what I had to say?” She’s just being herself, unfiltered and unapologetic. That’s why people love her.’ That, and her enviable wardrobe.
Spanning 2017’s critically acclaimed Hidden Figures, the cult classic hood film Baby Boy, The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button, the wildly successful Think Like a Man franchise and family favourite Ralph Breaks
the Internet, Taraji’s range is extraordinary. But when asked if there’s something she’s dying to add to her CV, she doesn’t hesitate: ‘A fantasy film! I want prosthetics on, I want to be a villain in an adventure or superhero movie.’
In the late 1990s, after graduating from Howard University, Taraji moved to California with an infant son and a dream of making it in Hollywood. She started by taking small roles and supplementing her
income with temp jobs. It wasn’t until 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for which she earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards, that she was seen as a serious actress. But it took Empire’s sizzling debut in 2015 to firmly place her on the A-list. While profile after profile has lauded Taraji as a ‘late bloomer’, she rejects the idea. ‘Everything comes at its own time,’ she says. She never doubted her path to success. ‘When you know you have a safety net, that’s when you jump.’ For Taraji, that safety net is her family. ‘I have such a strong foundation. I went out to California knowing my family had my back.’
For years, Taraji fought hard to be seen as a versatile artist. ‘I was pigeonholed. People saw [the role I played in] Baby Boy and I kept getting the same type of script. Hollywood is so quick to judge. It took years for me to prove myself. I just kept having to hit them upside the head with a different project, with a different character,’ she says. This year, fans will see Taraji play two wildly different characters in upcoming films. What Men Want is a remake of the 2000 film
What Women Want, in which Mel Gibson gains the ability to hear women’s inner thoughts. In this take, Taraji plays sports agent Ali Davis who is overlooked for a promotion – but once she gains the ability to hear men’s thoughts, she uses it to her advantage. At the other end of the spectrum, we’ll see Taraji portray civil rights activist Ann Atwater in The Best of Enemies.
With two big movies, season five of
Empire and the unveiling of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame coming up, Taraji has a busy 2019 ahead. The star also has a wedding to plan. She aims to marry her 35-year-old sweetheart, former NFL player Kelvin Hayden, mid-year. She met Kelvin at a party arranged by her makeup artist five years ago and they’ve been inseparable ever since. ‘I love how patient he is,’ she says. ‘“Taraji P Henson” and what I do is a lot to take in, and he’s a very private guy. It’s so good to come home, take my wig and makeup off, sit across from him and have those “How was your day?” conversations.’
I remind Taraji that South Africa has some of the world’s most stunning wedding venues. ‘I knew you were going to say that!’ she laughs. ‘Well, I will tell you this: we are looking for a real estate agent here.’
Taraji is also focused on her legacy off screen. Last year she launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation with partner Tracie Jade Jenkins. Not only did her father struggle with mental health issues but, she explains, ‘I’ve had some trauma in my life, and so has my son’. In 2003, William Lamar Johnson, Taraji’s high-school sweetheart and her son Marcell’s father, was murdered. ‘When it was time for Marcell to become a young man, there were no men around to help him. And I was like, we have to go see somebody because I’m not a professional. I didn’t want to raise another wounded man who would shut down his feelings. He is going to be in tune with his emotions and learn to express them in a healthy way.’
But Taraji came up short when searching for therapists. ‘They didn’t look like us. If the person on the opposite side of that sofa doesn’t look like you or they aren’t culturally competent, how can they help you?’ Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation provides mental health support in urban schools and aims to increase the number of African-American therapists. ‘We have a lot of hurdles to get over, but the first step is for someone like myself to come forward and make it cool to look for help. ‘We need to get that dust out from under that carpet. I want people to live their truth.’
CATCH TARAJI ONSCREEN What Men Want is in cinemas now; season five of Empire returns to FOX on Thursday, 7 March 2019 at 8:45pm and The Best of Enemies is scheduled for release later this year.
‘It’s good to come home, take my wig and makeup off, sit across from him and have those “How was your day?” conversations.’