Media Wire Express Correspondent
Taraji P. Henson is an Oscar-nominated actress, Golden Globe winner and multi-NAACP Image Award winner, but the harsh reality of Hollywood’s significant pay inequality has her ready to leave it all behind.
In a conversation with Gayle King for SiriusXM radio, promoting her upcoming film, The Color Purple, with fellow guests Danielle Brooks and Blitz Bazawule, things became sombre when Henson opened up about her frustrations over the industry’s lack of fair pay, implying that the longstanding issues are determining factors in whether she gives up acting for good.
“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, and getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people say ‘you work a lot!’ I have to. The math ain’t mathing. And when you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do, we don’t do this alone.”
Henson pointed out that a successful Hollywood career requires a team of people who deserve to be paid. “Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone,” she said. “The fact that we’re up here, there’s a whole entire team behind us. They have to get paid.”
“When you hear someone go, ‘Such and such made $10 million,’ that didn’t make it to their account,” Henson continued. “Off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50%. Now have $5 million. Your team is getting 30% — or whatever you work out — off what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now do the math.”
“I’m only human. Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired,” she lamented. “I’m tired. It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me, then what the f**k am I doing?”
Breaking into frustrated tears, Henson noted that despite her various successes, she still gets told there isn’t money on the table during negotiations because Black actors and stories “don’t translate overseas,” among other excuses. She stated that she’s turned to various other projects, including her TPH haircare line, to supplement her acting income and diversify her brand.
“I’m tired hearing of that my entire career,” Henson said. “Twenty-plus years in the game, and I hear the same thing, and I see what you do for another production, but when it’s time to go to bat for us, they don’t have any money. They play in your face. And I’m just supposed to smile and grin and bear it. Enough is enough! That’s why I have other [brands] because this industry, if you let it, it will steal your soul. But I refuse to let that happen.”
Bazawule, who directed The Color Purple, backed up her claims, sharing that he had to fight for all of his leading actors to be cast in the film despite their various successes. He said, “It was like you were never here,” when he brought up their names to the studio.
“The fact that each one of you had to audition for this role…roles that were second nature for you…roles that no one should even question,” Bazawule said.
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