[videowaywire video_id=”473A74760F53E4C9″]
*In Tyler Perry’s “Acrimony,” Taraji P. Henson plays Melinda, a woman who has spent most of her life supporting her husband Robert (Lyriq Bent). However, she also suffers from anger issues that sends her into a vengeful rage after Robert moves on following their divorce.
Refinery29’s Sesali Bowen notes that: “Robert refuses to work because of his obsession with a battery invention he’s patented, leaving Melinda to work harder in order to support them. Viewers are meant to empathize with the sacrifices she made as a faithful wife. However, part of Perry’s problem is that his Black female characters are always dependent on the attention and love of the men around them. Even more exhausting is his fascination with resentment, jealousy, and pettiness as guiding emotions.”
When Bowen caught up with Henson, they dished about this trend in Perry’s films, and whether she thought Melinda fit into it.
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“[Perry is] not snatching these characters out of the sky. These characters exist,” she reasoned. “My job is not to judge it. I do my job, and I do it as truthfully and as honestly as I can. I leave it up to the audience to judge.”
Henson suggested that she may be more than a stereotype for some people.
“If I judge the characters that I portray if I get on my high horse and say, ‘this character is not good for the Black community,’ well, what about that girl or that person out there that needs this story because they identify with it? I’m sorry that it makes you feel some kind of way, but somebody out there needs it,” she insisted. “That’s why it’s a story to be told. I can’t judge that as an artist. Because if I do, I’m doing a disservice to this character and to that person in the world who needs [it].”
Bowen noted that “As an actress, Henson can’t judge the woman Perry has put forth as Acrimony’s antagonist. But viewers can.”
Meanwhile, Henson sat down with Clever News to promote the film and during the interview she delivered a hilarious Cardi B impersonation.
The moment starts off the video and is repeated at the 4:30 mark, and though it only lasts a few seconds, Taraji nails it.
Watch:
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