Taraji P. Henson tearfully speaks out about pay inequality: 'The math ain't math-ing'

Taraji P. Henson is tired of being underpaid.

During a SiriusXM interview with Gayle King, “The Color Purple” star was asked if rumors of her thinking about quitting acting were true.

Henson paused and blinked away tears before answering.

 “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do (and) getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said, dabbing her eyes. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t math-ing. When you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole entire team behind us. They have to get paid.”

During the interview to promote the film – which opens Dec. 25 – Henson, 53, sat with co-star Danielle Brooks and the film’s director, Blitz Bazawule. She explained that even if an actor is paid $10 million, the hefty number is quickly diminished.

 “Know that off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50%. Now you have $5 million. Your team is getting 30% of what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now do the math. I’m only human. It seems 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. 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 (heck) am I doing?”

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The emotional Henson was comforted by Brooks as she continued to express her frustration that despite success in films such as “Hidden Figures” and a scene-commanding run in Fox TV’s “Empire,” she’s still told that Black actors and stories “don’t translate overseas.”

"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 enough money. And I’m just supposed to smile and grin and bear it. Enough is enough! That’s why I have other things because this industry, if you let it, it will steal your soul. I refuse to let that happen.”

Bazawule chimed in to acknowledge “how hard we had to fight” to ensure Henson, Brooks and Fantasia Barrino were all part of this new musical adaptation of “The Color Purple.”

“We have to be brave. You have to go with your heart,” he said. “Especially for Black women, it was like you were never here … It’s not enough to come in and be a director. You have to come in, be a therapist, be a friend, be a brother, be a champion. Understand that we have to break cycles and what happens here is going to be an example.”

Henson also recently spoke with Variety for a SAG-AFTRA discussion and said she almost turned down the Oprah Winfrey-produced “The Color Purple” because of pay to set an example for her female co-stars.

“If I don’t take a stand, how am I making it easier for Fantasia and Danielle (Brooks) and Halle (Bailey) and Phylicia (Mpasi)?” Henson asked. “Why am I doing this if it’s all just for me? We are to service each other.”

Henson said in the interview she had not seen a pay raise since her lead role in 2018’s action movie, “Proud Mary.”

In 2019, Henson told Variety that she was initially offered $100,000 for role with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in 2008’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a role which earned her a best supporting actress Oscar nomination.

She was given a bump to $150,000, still far below the $500,000 she expected as a third-billed actor in a major studio movie.

“I want to make this very clear – I’m not saying that Brad or Cate shouldn’t have gotten what they got,” Henson said in the interview. Their names sold movie tickets, “so give them their money. They deserve it. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get what they’re getting. I was just asking for half a million – that’s all. That’s it. When I was doing ‘Benjamin Button,’ I wasn’t worth a million yet. My audience was still getting to know me. We thought we were asking for what was fair for me, at the time.”

Watch Henson's full SiriusXM interview here.

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