*Taraji P. Henson arrived at the Cannes Film Festival feeling lighter, literally and figuratively, after pressing pause on Hollywood, hopping a plane to Bali and spending an entire month off-grid. Sitting with Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Stacy L. Smith for a Kering Women in Motion conversation, the Oscar-nominated actor explained why the break was essential.
“I was just frustrated and it was making me bitter, and I’m not a bitter person,” she said, citing the ongoing scarcity of leading roles, fair 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,” Henson added, per Variety.
Henson admitted that the pursuit of trophies had crept into her mindset. “Sometimes in the industry you make it about the trophies and the awards and that’s never why I got into it,” she reflected. “I came into this to change lives.”
Growing up “a little Black girl in the hood in D.C. during the crack epidemic,” she reminded the audience, she was “supposed to be a statistic” but found salvation in the arts.
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Per Variety, Smith’s research underscored Henson’s frustrations: 54% of 2023’s top films showcased female leads, yet only 13% centered on women of color, and a mere 1% starred a woman of color over 45. “There are few women of color being given the opportunity,” Smith noted.
Henson said she is determined to end years of being “graceful in getting paid less than.” She returned from Bali and got involved with ventures beyond acting, including expanding her beauty line TPH.
“Instead of relying on that check from Hollywood,” she said, she now leverages the social-media following she built through roles like Cookie Lyon on “Empire.”
“I urge you all to speak up for yourself,” Henson told the women in attendance. “That’s my power. You need me because you need my following.”
The moment she realized that power, Henson recalled, came during “Empire’s” overseas press tour. “When I did the international press for ‘Empire,’ up until then I was told Black doesn’t translate overseas,” she said. In Paris, fans erupted before her name could be announced. “The myth was busting. You lied to me my entire career,” she said, describing how the crowd’s response left her “ugly-faced crying.”
With a renewed outlook and “the freedom of doing what I want to do and not being controlled by the industry or the machine,” Henson is ready for her next chapter. She stars in the Netflix drama “Straw,” streaming June 6, and says she is focused on projects that align with her mission to uplift audiences rather than chase accolades.
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