Taraji P. Henson Opens Up About Her Abusive First Love In New Memoir

By Bossip

October 6, 2016

"Empire" star Taraji P. Henson recently opened up about the past abusive relationship she had with her son’s father with People.

In her upcoming memoir, Around The Way Girl, Henson reveals that she broke off her relationship with the love of her life, whom she refers to only as Mark, after he allegedly hit her — only to have him die violently at just 34.

The couple would break up but later reunited in the early ’90s when Henson attended Howard University where she studied theater.

Henson stayed in school during her pregnancy and initially felt supported by Mark, but writes that things began to unravel after Marcell’s birth. She recalls that the stress of a new baby, working and Mark’s disappearances late at night resulted in a huge fight one night that turned physical.

“The next thing I knew, Mark’s balled-up fist was coming straight for my face. I fell onto the bed crying and holding my mouth; blood seeped off my lips and across my teeth,” Henson writes. “Droplets splashed across my shoes … slowly creeping into the fibers of my suede boots.”