Taraji P. Henson Sobs As She Tells Gayle King She’s Considering Quitting Hollywood Over Unfair Pay: “It Wears On You”

Taraji P. Henson, along with other cast and crew from the upcoming remake of The Color Purple, was a guest on Gayle King‘s SiriusXM show this week, and the actress grew emotional when discussing reaching her breaking point in Hollywood as a result of unfair pay as a Black woman.

When King brought up a rumor she heard about Henson leaving Hollywood, Henson responded by saying, “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost.

“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,'” she continued. “Well, I have to. The math ain’t mathing. 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 team behind us. They have to get paid.”

Henson also added, “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 fuck am I doing?”

Henson was crying by this point, and said, “I’m just supposed to smile and grin and bear it and just keep like… Enough is enough! That’s why I have other things, I have my TPH brand, I have my mental wellness… because this industry, if you let it, it will steal your soul. I refuse to let that happen,” she stated.

Henson’s co-star Danielle Brooks and the film’s director Blitz Bazawule were also moved by Henson’s emotion, with Bazawule adding, “What you just said right now rings so true,” adding that as a director, he had to champion Henson and her co-stars and petition for them to be in the film despite their existing star power.

The Color Purple premieres in theaters Dec. 25.