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Our favorite girl Taraji P. Henson covers Glamour Magazine’s October issue and she looks like a million bucks!
Glamour Magazine‘s October issue features three different cover girls: Emma Roberts, Gina Rodriguez and Henson. The Empire star isn’t one to mince words and she definitely spilled the tea on being a single mom, Cookie’s mainstream appeal and the art of fearlessness.
She acknowledged that although she was a young mother, it never stopped her from pursuing her dreams of becoming an actress.
“When I got pregnant in college, people said, “This is it for her.” But I did not stop. I never missed a class. I was in the school musical when I was six months pregnant—we just made the character pregnant. My mother swears Marcel came out doing the dance; he had learned the choreography. When I graduated, I carried my son across the stage. I wanted to be an actress; I moved out to L.A. with him. People were like, “Are you crazy, moving to California with your son?” My father was like, “Leave him home.” I said, “I can’t leave my son at home.” [And eventually] my father said, “That’s your baby. That’s your blessing. He’s going to be your strength.” And you know what? He was. I didn’t have time to go to the club to “network.” That’s B.S. No business deals go down at the club. So I didn’t get caught up in that. I had a mission. I had to make my dream come true. If I didn’t, what was I proving to my son?”
Henson is also very much aware of why people connect with Cookie so strongly.
“She is everybody’s alter ego. She crosses cultures. [Last year] we went to Paris and screened the pilot for a thousand people. Lee Daniels [the series’ co-creator] brought me onstage. The audience stood up on their feet and clapped. I cried because, for so long in Hollywood, I’ve been told that Black women don’t do well overseas, that they can’t open a film overseas. That moment for me was the best moment of my life. That’s better than any trophy, any award, any nomination. You know how they say music can heal the world? I feel that way about art in general.”
She even described when she feels the most like Cookie.
“When I don’t feel fear. Fear will cripple you, fear will kill you, fear will make you believe you’re not worthy. After 17 years in prison, Cookie feels there is nothing to fear. She made it out alive. In her mind that’s how strong she is. We all have that strength inside us. We just have to choose it.”
Read the full piece here.
Werk!
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