Taraji P. Henson Fired Her Team While Playing Cookie On ‘Empire’

Hunty, one factor about Taraji P. Henson is that she is aware of her value and gained’t let anybody diminish that. The Empire star proudly revealed she fired her workforce for his or her incompetence to capitalize on the Cookie Lyon hype. 

We all know how paramount and emblematic Cookie was in Empire, as did Henson, so she took instant motion to maintain Cookie alive. However her workforce didn’t create a brand new avenue for her and them to revenue from the Cookie Lyon hype earlier than it was too late, she shared in a Dec. 19 sit-down interview with the SAG-AFTRA Basis as a part of the press run for The Coloration Purple.

“All people needed to fucking go,” she mentioned, incomes approval from the viewers. “The place is my deal? The place is my industrial? Cookie was prime of the style sport. The place is my endorsement? What did you will have arrange for after this?”

The 53-year-old Howard alum mentioned it was why the general public hadn’t seen her in something for some time.

“That they had nothing arrange,” Henson continued. “All they wished was one other Cookie present, and I mentioned I’ll do it, nevertheless it must be proper. [Cookie’s] too beloved for y’all to fuck it up. And, so, once they didn’t get it proper, I used to be like, properly, that’s it, after which that they had nothing else. You’re all f—g fired.”

Henson mentioned the choice wasn’t straightforward as a result of she had a little bit of Stockholm syndrome, the place a sufferer varieties a psychological bond with their abuser(s) as a coping mechanism. 

“Child, it’s very actual,” she mentioned. “You’re the prize. Don’t you ever overlook that? You’re the expertise. You’re their verify. Don’t ever overlook that. They be just right for you, and in the event that they’re not, someone else will do it. However I had that for years as a result of I stayed with the identical workforce for years.”

Henson doesn’t remorse it as a result of she is aware of there’s extra to come back.

Henson lately co-starred within the 2023 rendition of the long-lasting film The Coloration Purple alongside Fantasia Barrino, Halle Bailey, Danielle Brooks, Corey Hawkins and Ciara.

The latest adaptation of the 1985 traditional broke the Christmas field workplace document throughout its opening week. The film earned $18.1 million on the primary day, making it the second-best displaying ever for a movie premiering on Christmas Day since 2009.

Henson has obtained three Oscar nominations and was within the hit movie Hidden Figures. Her profession ought to’ve skyrocketed, nevertheless it didn’t. And he or she isn’t the one instance of how distinguished Black actresses aren’t handled in the identical regard as white actresses regardless of their accolades.

In 2018, Viola Davis interviewed with Tina Brown, host of Girls within the World, and mentioned how actresses like Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver had the identical path to fame as her, however she by no means obtained the identical pay or job alternatives as them.

“But, I’ve to continually get on that telephone, and I’ve fabulous brokers, by the way in which, however I’ve to get on that telephone, and folks say, ‘You’re a Black Meryl Streep. You’re, and we love you. We love you. There’s nobody such as you.’ Okay, then if there’s nobody like me, you assume I’m that, you pay me what I’m value. You give me what I’m value.”