‘The Color Purple’s Taraji P. Henson Insists “There’s Nothing To Spin” About Her Rumored Feud With Oprah Winfrey: “What You’re Not Gonna Do Is Pit Two Black Women Together”

Taraji P. Henson is setting the record straight on the rumored feud between herself and Oprah Winfrey.

The Color Purple star’s comments about unfair pay convinced some fans online that Winfrey, an executive producer on the movie musical adaptation, was a potential culprit. Henson, however, insisted in a recent interview with TODAY.com that “there’s nothing to spin” about their relationsip, per Entertainment Weekly.

“She was right there in the field doing the electric slide [with us],” she said, referring to a video shared by Winfrey on Instagram. “She held our hands the entire production. She showed up, she was there — there are producers that don’t show up on set.”

She revealed that Winfrey “would step in and do whatever [she] could to make it right,” even going so far as to call her individually.

“Not my team, not my people — me,” she continued. “And asked me, ‘Taraji, if there’s anything you need, you let me know.’ And I said it with a shaking voice, I was like, ‘Well, yeah,’ — since she asked. And I told her and she fixed everything the next day.”

Henson clarified, “And what you’re not gonna do is pit two Black women together — not on my watch.”

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Winfrey also confronted the claims that she was “not supporting Taraji” while speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Jan. 7.

“Taraji will tell you herself that I’ve been the greatest champion of this film,” she told the outlet. “Championing not only the behind the scenes projection but also everything that everybody needed.”

Highlighting that she’s not “in charge of the budget,” she iterated that she would “step in and do whatever [she] could” when aware of an issue.

While speaking with TODAY.com, Henson urged fans to shift their “focus back onto [the film].” She said, “Right now, to me, it feels like what I said is now becoming louder than this beautiful film.”

“Because the film deals with women who are oppressed — who live in an oppressed system,” she added. “Men and women. And all the characters in that film except for the white people. So that movie is about healing. That movie is about sisterhood.”

Henson was particularly surprised that her recent comments expressing her frustrations — including those shared during her December 2023 interview with Gayle King — sparked so much interest from the public, as she claimed she’s been saying the same thing “for years.”

“I don’t know why people decided to hear the words [this time], maybe it was the emotion attached to it,” she told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month. “But like I said in the interview, I’m just tired of us having that same conversation. Something’s gotta give.”

The Color Purple is in theaters.