Since I never really got into Empire, my love for Taraji P. Henson is mostly because I love HER, her personality, how she comes across in interviews and how she chooses to present herself. I think she seems so cool, funny and pragmatic. The only thing that causes me to side-eye is her closeness with noted nutburger Terrence Howard. But I’m past that. Anyway, Taraji covers the new issue of Redbook, and I love it. She is exactly the kind of celebrity who should be on the cover of Redbook. She’s promoting her new memoir, Around the Way Girl, and now that I know she has a memoir, I want to read it (it comes out next month). Some highlights from Redbook:
How to stay strong: “God didn’t give me anything more than he gave anyone else. We’re all born with a deck of cards and no instructions on how to play them. All God gave us was choice. You can choose to wake up sad or to wake up happy. I chose not to live in fear and to make the best of my life. You can’t put your happiness into anybody’s hands but your own.”
On holding out for the right kind of romantic relationship: “If I was going to get married, it had to be for love, because I wanted [my son] Marcell to see that real kind of love—the kind I yearn for. That old couple crooked and bent over but still holding hands. I know that kind of love exists and I’m not going to stop until I have that.”
On the pitfalls of being overprotective of our children: “These days we’re so busy protecting our kids, when we really should be pulling back the blinds and showing them that we live in a world that’s not always fair and moral. Sometimes we try to protect our children so much that when something doesn’t go right in their lives, they’re unprepared to deal with adversity. I don’t think that does our kids any favors.
On being a single mother and the pressure to do it all: “It depends on what women equate success with. I think we try to do our best. And yes, we can do it all, but it is not easy.
Why she’s not afraid of aging: “I grew up watching women in my family embrace getting older and I think that’s healthy. You ought to see my grandmother: She is 92, looks great, still travels, and dates a younger man. I’m 46 and I’m proud. Men don’t lie about their age, so why should women?”
[From Redbook]
If I look that good at 46, I won’t lie about my age either! Good God, she looks ten years younger, if not more. It’s easy to embrace ageing when you look amazing. As for Taraji’s conversation about being overprotective of her son, I think she’s making a reference to what went down when she accused the Glendale police of racially targeting her college-aged son, and when the footage came out, she learned that the cop was actually going out of his way to be nice to her son. Meaning, I think her son lied to her. By the way, she did give a great apology to the police for that incident, and I bet she did learn that she was (perhaps) being a little bit overprotective.
Photos courtesy of Yu Tsai/Redbook.
Leave a reply