Today on The Breakfast Club, Taraji P. Henson Talks 'STRAW,' Protecting Black Women, Tyler Perry, Oprah, Sobriety Journey. Listen For More!
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Speaker 2 (01:01):
Wake that ass up in the morning, the breakfast club morning.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Everybody in the j n V just hilarious charlamage the
guy we are the breakfast club. Lonla Rosa is here
as well, and we got a special guest.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
In the building. Yes, indeed, the legend Taji p Henson.
Welcome back.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Thank you. I can't tell that I'm a legend because
I'm not on this wall. Can you get the wall?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
We got something special for you done yet.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I'm telling you I need to be on the wall.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
It's gonna be bigger than the wall, and it's gonna
be something that's in the studio because you know, we
love you, Angie, love you.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Watch you'll see watch, just watch. It's gonna be worth it.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You know I've been I've been told them put you
up here. What he's saying to me as soon as
I walk ahead, you sound like Hollywood exect right now.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Hell, legend, we're looking for somebody else.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Nobody said that to you, no more than what they
been looking for somebody else.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's it's just the whole Hollywood of it all. We
love her, we love her. Well, where is my check?
Speaker 5 (02:06):
One thing I know about you and OG's like Mary
j BLI, y'all over it.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
I can be I just you know. The thing is
the older you get. I just can't do the b asked, like,
just be real with me, that's all. I'm a grown
ass girl, a woman. I can take it. Just be real,
don't be blowing smoke.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How are you feeling? How are you feeling?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Was great? I am feeling amazing, to be quite honest,
because I'm not dealing with nobody's unhealed son or daughter.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Can't. You're not on your healing journey. I can't help you, baby,
because I can't take on your trauma while I'm trying
to get over mine. Yeah, and you not trying to
heal yours. I can't help you. I'm not qualified yourself.
Oh my god, the peace that I found, like, you know,
even somebody asking me to come out, the first question
(03:03):
I asked, is is it going to disturb my peace?
Because you know, when you're young, you just you gonna
have phone mall a little bit. It's like I gotta go,
and then you find yourself going why did not? Why
did I just stay home? You know, no more of
those moments because I'd rather be home with my fat frenchies.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
You don't always want to ask you as being an
advocate for mental health ever made you feel more exposed
than being just a public figure in Hollywood. More exposed, Yeah,
because you tell you tell more of yourself being a
mental health advocate, because you probably if you was just
Taraji in Hollywood, who wasn't that you wouldn't have to
probably give up so much.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
That's true. But I kind of always been that, So
I wear my heart on my sleeve. So I just
I don't know if I feel any different. I'm still
looking at this wall, but go ahead.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I want to ask, when did you get to the
point where you don't have to come out for the BS?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
It's weird. We just had this conversation the other day
where it was like I got to a place a
couple of years ago where I just say no. Before
it was like I felt like I had to do it,
I had to show up, I had.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To go and sometimes things up your piece.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But now to the point where if I feel like
the energy is gonna be off or I just don't,
I'm not going.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
No. It is my favorite word. I love saying that
word no, and that said I don't owe your explanation.
Like when I was with our forever first Lady Michelle
Obama doing her show She was like, no, it is
a complete sentence, and it absolutely is.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
When did you get there?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
When?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
When did it click?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Which trip was it? The first one? The first one
when I went alone, the first one, because that that
refocused me, recentered me. I was. I didn't I felt
outside of myself before I went to Bali. That was
a well needed trip because I was literally losing myself.
I didn't even know who I was the joy. I'm
(04:52):
a I'm the one that brings the life to the party,
you know, and I become I was like tight all
the time, not happy and complaining a lot. That's just
not me. Even my team noticed, they were like, is
everything okay? You don't you seem a little you know,
And that's just not in my DNA. So I had
(05:13):
to unplug and just go away and be with myself
and in the middle of a rice field.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
You want to share that with the world that I
started seeing that people need to hear that.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
I think sometimes when they see public figures, they think
we have it all together because we've you know, we've
found some money or whatever. You know. People think that
money heals and money will bring you more problems than
you had when you were broke. I often find myself saying,
damn I missed when I was broke and dreaming because
everything seemed possible, you know, but then when you make
(05:49):
it and you you get behind the Wizard of Oz
curtain and it's like, oh, it ain't what it seems.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Straw.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yes, a very moving film.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
Thank you, Yes, listen, what did you What did you channel?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Because you you are healing, you mean your healing journey.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
But to put yourself in a role like that, you
had to go back. You had to go back. That
was a trying day. So the movie was like it
took place one day to deal with all that in
the day and to have to embody that much trauma.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Because I don't want to give away to ending.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
It's gonna fuck you. What what did you pull from?
Did you have to go put yourself back where you were,
where you were going through everything?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Executives.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I am a single mother, you know. I moved to
Hollywood with my son, who was a toller at the
time of seven hundred dollars in my pocket and just
a pocket full of dreams and Jesus and so I've
you know, humans, we all have can have a moment
where we can snap. You know, I think what made
me different from Jenia's that I've always had a support system.
(07:04):
So I have a sister circle where they'll talk me
off the ledge, you know what I mean. But have
I ever got to the point where I wanted to snap? Yes,
that's why I went to Bali, you know what I mean. So,
but she didn't have the resources, she didn't have the support,
so all she had was the voices in her head,
and she literally reached them her point where she just
(07:25):
couldn't take it anymore, and things just got out of
control and she God, bless her heart, she was just
trying to do the best she could with what she had,
you know. And I in particular, I am drawn to
characters who are voiceless and need a voice because I
am such a big personality. I like to breathe light
(07:45):
into those characters because I feel like those characters are real.
You know, Tyler Perry and just pulled us out of
the sky. These women exist, These people exist, and they
need to see themselves, and they need to know that
they're not alone and that people do see them.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
To make you mad when people tell Tyler Perry to
stop showing those women on camera, I.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Think that's their own trauma's trigger because in the community
black community, we don't deal with it, you know what
I mean. So if you're forced to look at it,
often you will be triggered. So the first thing you're
going to one to say is I don't want to
see it, but there are people out there that need
to see it. He's forcing real conversations in the community.
(08:25):
That's why I'll never stop working with him.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
So for a person that doesn't work on themselves the
way you do, when you got to go on an
intense emotional journey for a four day shoot, what is
your approach to that?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Like, how do you prepare for like those inevitable triggers.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I have trained well, I think out of necessity. I've
trained my instrument. My body is my instrument, just like
you know, a musician has a guitar, they know how
to hit the notes. I have a know and off switch.
And I think that's because I was a mother very
young and when I would work and come home, I
didn't have time to process and deal with the character
(08:58):
that opportuny because now it's homework. He got eat, I
got a science fait project, you know what I mean.
So I had to turn it off, so I'm just trying.
I Literally, you ask anybody that I've worked with. I
could be in the middle of a singing, balling my
eyes out and they'll yell cut, and I'll be like,
what a fried chicken? Or I have these games that
(09:19):
I play on my iPad to because I have to
separate myself from the character. I cannot stay again that
is that character's trauma. I can't take that on. I
just can't because I have my own shit to deal with.
So literally, when they yell cut, I'm back to Taraji
just like that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Is it easier to shoot a four day movie because
you did this movie in four days, right? Or is
it more difficult because you got to do everything in
those four days.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It's taxing, But I like it, especially when the subject
matter is so heavy, because I don't have to stay
in it long like I you know, that fourth day,
I was like, oh my god, I gotta do this again,
you know what I mean, because it's not comfortable. Showing
a character's trauma and pain is like showing you some
of my trauma and pain and it's healing, but having
(10:09):
to open up those wounds, it's not comfortable. It's not
comfortable to be in that, but it is healing.
Speaker 8 (10:15):
There's a visual reference in the movie.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
I think what I call it is a visual reference
to Annie Lee's Blue Monday. Yes, that's exactly it. Okay,
So I'm not crazy, no talk, Okay. So even visually
showing things like that in a film and it being
like that's like that image is so iconic and you're
speaking without speaking when that scene happens, when you're looking
at a script. Is that something that's already there when
(10:38):
you and Tyler Perry are discussing. Perry came up with
that all on his own, okay, Yeah, and he nailed it. Oh.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I know the painting too.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
And I've had Blue Mondays, you know where I just
felt like, shit, I don't want to do it today.
I think we all understand that. That's why that painting hits,
especially for black women.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
How did your advocacy for mental wellness inform your portrayal
of Janaia's.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Psychological understanding her breaking point and understanding what it is
to just be going through the motions barely hanging on
by a thread, Like I get that, I understand what
that looks like. That's why at the end when they
go back, you kind of you like, oh, you can
see exactly when she snaps it's crazy. I ain't trying
(11:27):
to do it is crazy.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
Somebody in the movie said it's more expensive to be poor.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Oh my god. Okay, So prime example, Tyler said when
he was homeless, he called his mother and was like,
can you send me twenty dollars? She said, you need
to bring your black ass home because it's gonna cost
me fifteen dollars just to send you twenty dollars. Damn.
And I don't think people really understand that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I wanted to know, without giving too much a way,
what's the message in Straw that you hope sticks.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
With people after the credits roll?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So there was women unity, There was so much about it.
What's that one message that you want people to get
it and understand.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
That we should move with grace at all times because
you never know what somebody's going through. Never judge a
book by its cover, because you never know what battles
a person is a fighting You just don't and really
see people, really don't just throw how you doing, and
you know, really wait for a response and really ask
the question to want to know you know, connect with
(12:32):
people say hi, how are you? You know, and really
mean it, because that could save a human's life, just
that human interaction, especially for people who feel unseen.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Only when Tyler even was casting you for that role,
did he even know what you had went through? Because
if I write a role about somebody getting to their
breaking point, knowing somebody already had got on, it feels kind.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Of Tyler and I are friends of verse, and so
we talk all the time about personal things, and so
he knows a lot about But he said when he
started writing, he just had to. He was going through
his own thing and he had to get it out
and on the page. And then he said, as he
was writing, he saw me, and he'll bring me a
lot of projects, and I'll be like, you know what, time,
(13:14):
I don't think this is for me. I think this
is somebody else's blessing, you know. And then he'll just
keep writing. And when he got straw, he said, he
hit me. He said I got one for you, and
he sent it to me and I read it. I said,
this is it. This is the one. So that's kind
of how we operate.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
How do you not fight somebody over Tyler?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
How do you not fight because they attacked time, but
one because he does so much for people and he's
so good to especially our community, and I think a
lot of times people don't see that, and even people
that he don't know that he doesn't know. Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
He helps so much. He talks to, he godes, he mentors,
and you guys are so close.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
How do you not just say you know?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Because his action speaks louder than the because this man
owns a studio. What you got? Every raise that I've
gotten and how I've whenever I'm treated the best in
this industry is always by him. Every raise that I've
gotten has come from a black man.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
Tyler Perry.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
He doubled my quote in Straw four days of work,
which is so important for when you go on to
that next he understands that that man has helped. He
does so much that we don't even know because he's
not even talking about it.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
Yeah, you filmed two movies at the same time, Fight
Night and Straw. Right, did you find the two characters
bleeding into each other?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It's not at all totally different. He was the first
director to challenge me in that way because I was
in the throes of Empire. When he called with acrimony,
and I was like, Tyler, I don't know. It's being
a thesbian. I don't know if I can get into
this character. He was like, girl, with your instrument, you
can do it. He was like, you're gonna come down here,
We're gonna shoot it in five I was like five days.
(15:00):
He said, you can do it. If anybody can do it, Taji,
you can do it. And he challenged me. He knows
I love a good challenge. That's I lean into roles.
That scared the shit out of me because I have
to grow in some way or change or be transcended
or something. And that's what I want from my audience.
And if I'm not doing it as the artist, then
how is the audience going to transform? So I lean
(15:21):
into challenges and he knows that about him because he's
a virgo as well. And so now I'm a pro
ad it because of Tyler. So when he called this time,
I didn't even think about it. I was like, great,
four days in and out, Okay, let's go.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
In the industry is finally catching up to your arrange?
Are you still underestimated in certain rooms?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
This is an actress no, I think they get it.
I think I'm at a really particular point in my
special place in my career where I've done so much
that I can't just do anything anymore because y'all will
be like, why should do that? You know what I mean?
And so you know, it's just looking for that right
(16:03):
material and it doesn't come like that, so that my
fans are frustrated because I'll post a pretty picture and
they're like, that's cute. When your next movie coming out, like,
I have to be very particular about what I'm choosing now,
and some of this stuff doesn't exist and I have
to create it, and so that takes a little longer.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
What age were you when you did Empire?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
That was ten years I was forty five. It was
twenty fifteen.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
The reason why I asked you that is because I
saw your interview where you talked about your overseas and
how people received you overseas, and you realized then how
big like us overseas were like that whole thing, And
I'm wondering right now in your career, you just said
you can't do anything, and you get into these different
levels so early in your career, even though you've been
our Taraji forever. What are new experiences that you're having
(16:51):
just in your celebrity life at where you are right
now in your career that we might have thought that
you've already experienced before.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I don't know. I guess for me, it's always because
I people always go do you not know who you are?
Like I went to the girl. I still like to
go to the groceres.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
So by my own damn produce, like by Empire, you
were iconic to us.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Okay, thank you, But you know, after so many years
of being told by the industry, oh, no one knows
you overseas, and then I get overseas and they're like,
did ogi please please? Picture? That still throws me, Like
I just came back from can and it's the age
range for me, it's like the Grandma all the way
down sometimes to the great grandchildren. And I'm leaving Connor
(17:33):
and I forget, you know, I'm overseas. I'm like, don't
nobody know me? And all of a sudden I get
crowded by this group of people and then over in
the corner, I see these young boys and it's like
a soccer team or something. They're standing there with their
camera and I just I don't even think they spoke
(17:54):
fluent English, but they knew exactly who I was because
one of them and I was like, babies, come on,
and they all gathered. I'm telling I'm like maybe ten,
but that always throws me when the babies know who
I am. You know, I'm just like, dang, I'm still relevant.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Fifty four years old? You ever want a young girl?
When black women?
Speaker 7 (18:18):
He was like, the age you remind me asking that?
The reason I asked I tell people my age.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Because I hate that women we feel ashamed of age
and when men can have beer bellies balding, sorry.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
I gave, and then we can kind of seehere the like,
but you understand what they.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Can and then they can have a young thing on
there and we let that pass and we have to
be ashamed of our age. No, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
At one point, you were flirting with leaving Hollywood. You
said you were tired with the bullshit, the.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Little ball before I went to the first time, Yeah
I had, I remember, I had gotten too a better place.
But see, that's what happens when you give so much
power over to humans. See, I know God chose me.
I'm called chosen and covered. So when you know that
everything's not gonna be easy, you know, I had to
(19:17):
get back to that. That's what got me to Hollywood
with seven hundred dollars in my pocket and my toddler,
because I knew I had a calling and I just
stirred away from that. But I'm back.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You feel appreciated more.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
I do, I do. I don't. Look, you know, it's
like it's interesting because you go, I didn't get it
nominated for this award again, that's did you see the
powerful talk that Denzel did about how he got bitter?
I mean that was me. That was me, and it
particularly happened after hitting figures. I was like, what do
(19:55):
I have to do? Like you know, y'all didn't see
the rain. Yeah, I'm still playing cookie. And then I
gave you a rocket scientist like what? And that hurt
a little bit, But again it hurt because of the
power I placed in man's hand. But if you step
(20:15):
back from that and take that power back, Look how
many black girls are coding now? Not even black girls,
young kids, kids, period. Like So that's what I always wanted,
and that's what I asked God. I said, I want
longevity and I want the work that's going to affect
lives in a positive way. I want the work that
(20:36):
people are gonna study long after I'm gone, like I
did the greats that came before me, you know, And
when you ask that's specific. It may not be the awards,
you know. I figure if I keep working, that shit'll come.
But what's rewarding to me? Or when fans come up
to me and go bay whatever? That last it touched me.
(20:58):
It made me change the way I, you know, think
about things like that's rewarding to me.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Was on the phone yesterday and she was just saying
how much of a fan of you she is?
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I mean, but I'm just like, there's nothing wrong with
expressing that.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Share that with her because you just existing provides that inspiration.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And then she's shamed me because I was just like,
I was like, you damn right. We saw Toaji.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
I saw to Rogi in the theatters for baby Boy,
and she was like you saw baby Boy in theats.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
She made you feel older.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
I've never thought about baby Boy in a movie theater about.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Crazy my son.
Speaker 7 (21:40):
But I don't know just how you feel, but I
feel like wanting to be in entertainment being television like
it's you think of you because you're able to be.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
It always seems like you've been able to be yourself.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
So when we were like, I know for myself, when
I heard you talk about that before that first body trip,
not feeling like enough, I'm like, wait, what, Like she's
been the this is how you can be the girl
from where are you from?
Speaker 8 (22:00):
Run away?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Whatever you want to call it, But like you're in
Hollywood and you're graceful in your career impacts. So I'm
glad you're out of that because I was like, what
this is?
Speaker 8 (22:10):
Dteragp intem like it was.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Actual burnout because of the work. You know, people go,
you work a lot. I too, because the math ain't
math and the zeros ain't adding up, you know. And
so because you see somebody working a lot a lot
of times when it's us, it's because that one job
is not gonna cover you for the year. I wish
I could just do two films and be like, I mean,
(22:33):
I'm kind of to that point now, you know what
I mean. But there are actors out there that's just
one job a year because that's how they get paid.
And I don't think people really understand the breakdown of
the math. You know, fifty cent. If somebody goes they
made ten million dollars, right, you got to remember Uncle
Sam's coming to take half of that off the top,
(22:54):
and then you have to pay your thirty or forty
percent whatever you're paying your team off your gross. So
you're not taking home ten million dollars. I know it
sounds amazing, but you're not taking it home. Somebody gets
paid one million for a film, they not seeing that
one million in their bank account. Do the math, you know.
So that's why. So I think a lot of it
(23:15):
was burnout and frustration because once I lifted my head
and was like, why do I have to work so much?
You know, I just got burned out. That became bitter.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You know a lot of people thought you were kicking
Thiland Oprah's back in during the Color Purple.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Oh my god, why would they think that.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
I guess that they were the producers of the film,
and they thought that when you were complaining about the pay.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
You know, they had bosses, right, thank you? And when
have you ever seen me drag another woman, particularly a
black woman? Ever? I'm ten toes down for us. Never?
And then the fact that blogs, and I think it
was just a campaign so that this black movie wouldn't
(23:56):
do well, right, because to say I even saw some
bits about it was my fault that the film didn't
do well? Oh yeah, I saw that. What how did?
How did? How? How?
Speaker 7 (24:08):
They tried to say that you because of the conversation
you raised about the money and things that weren't right.
It pivoted the focus to people aren't going to go
see the film. They care more about what is Taraji saying?
Speaker 8 (24:17):
Is it true or not?
Speaker 4 (24:18):
That's you know that total now I know it is.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
But I'm gonna tell you what the conversation, what you're
referring to. We're telling jess what the most.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
And me and Oprah, I have such a love and
a fondness for her. She just texted me the other
day commending me on a job well done in Straw.
So that was all fixtures like and to draw a
wedge between us. But see, I'm not gonna let you
do that because I went to her defense right away.
Y'all not gonna do that to this woman. All of
this what she does, I mean, like, stop it, stop that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Even with Tyler, Tyler is the person that pays you
the most.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
What I'm never gonna not work with Tyler. That just
is that's insane to me. I enjoy working with him.
I really really do. We have fun on that set.
I love that he challenges me. I understand. I'm never
gonna turn my back on us. You know, people that
go to the Tyler Perry films is a huge population
(25:10):
of us. Like, so for me to say I'm not
gonna do it time about, that's me turning my back
on us. I would never speaking of black women in
relationships your character and Strolgian and during her like worst moment,
black women in the movie still like get around her
and heller around her even almost like forcibly, but like
not really because they identify with her absolutely.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
What is you know, not even the importance? But like
when people watch those moments throughout the movie, what do
you want them to take from that?
Speaker 4 (25:40):
That we need each other and we're more powerful when
we support each other. I'm a huge you know how
I am with the sister girls, you know? And I
told this to the Spellman Lady graduating class of twenty
twenty five. The last thing I said to them was like, ladies,
like we are more powerful in numbers. We need to
support each other. Do not air your grievances with another
(26:04):
sister in public. You got a problem with her, pull
it to the side. That's between you and her. To
fix that is not for the public to weigh in
with their shallow opinions. I said, it's black women. We
take too many bullets from society. Why why would I
be another obstacle for another sister to get over. I'm
just not gonna do it.
Speaker 8 (26:36):
Earlier today. I need it to depend on her. How
we've had this.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
I'm glad. That's beautiful, and that's growth and more of that.
But it breaks my heart when I see sisters go
at it in public. It does something to me because
we have enough to overcome. Why should it be another
sister like we got the same struggle.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
So the dynamic between you and Sherry Shepard and Leanna
Taylor in the movie, that's the enhanced like the exploration
the sisterhood and solidarity is.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Absolutely Tyler wrote that, and he doesn't do anything by mistake,
like he's a virgo. He's very calculated.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
Because I was wondering that dynamic was that something you
brought in?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
But it was already there. It's already there. He wrote
it like that, see, because you know Detective Raymond, who uh,
Tiana plays so effortlessly that girl. Let me just say
this about Tiana. She coming for everything, y'all. She's coming
for everybody and everybody's next and everything. She what I
(27:38):
love about her. I mean, she just leaves nothing on
the table. She checks every box. She's just incredible. Have
you seen the snippet for her new video Come As
the mini movie that she directed.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yes, in front of the camera, behind the camera.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Every gift that God gave her, she is using an
I mean, sweetheart, I love her anyway. When she starts
hearing my character Jania's story, she totally identifies because she's
a single mother, so that touches her right. She's like,
wait a minute and see for us. Do you have
(28:16):
you ever seen that that series call is it The Center?
It's called The Center, and it's about people who do
these crimes. And there's this gentleman who's a detective and
he goes to the why. There's always a why, and
when you understand the why, then you're able to show
compassion and give some grace because people just don't do
(28:38):
stuff just because they're pushed to a point. I'm not excusing. Yes,
I'm not excusing the d that has been done. But
if we can just understand why, the why. And that's
why I'm always playing the why of my characters, because
I want the audience to feel for the person. If
I didn't play the why of cookies, she could have
(28:59):
been just another sass, smart mouthed black woman. No one
would have cared. But because I got to her why,
everybody in the world could identify with her. Lays the
cookie too. You know, do you.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
Think that the layers that we see in Jenia and
Straw in her having to learn to be like actually
admit that she's not okay and not just covering things up,
and you talk about your personal life not being a
life of a party anymore and being okay with that.
Speaker 8 (29:23):
Do you think that that.
Speaker 7 (29:24):
That's something that after watching this movie people can take
on easily or like, what do you think people's journey
to get to that point will be after watching this movie.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Everybody's journey is different. Some people find it hard to
very difficult to deal with trauma because it's it's not
easy going through therapy. You gotta deal with the ugly
shit first before you get There is no way to
get over a storm or under a storm. You gotta
go through it before you can see the sun. But
(29:51):
the sun always shines, but you have to go through it.
And that therapy journey is not for the week, and
some people, unfortunately, spend their lifetime just dodging it. And
it's unfortunate because your life can be so much better
if you could just heal, because you find yourself, you know,
(30:12):
almost like a Gerbil in the wheel. If you're not,
because the same shit that you think you're running from,
you're gonna wherever you are, wherever you go, there you are,
and all your problems you cannot.
Speaker 8 (30:25):
You're not drinking or decision and not drink anymore.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Okay, So I do have my wine, and I do
I love my seven daughters, but I do take breaks.
For five months, I had stopped drinking because I felt
like I needed clarity. I needed to get rid of
some negative energy that was in my life that I
couldn't see because and not to say that I have
a drinking problem or anything like that, I just think
(30:51):
like you fast sometimes because you need to reset your system.
I did this sobriety for like five months, and then
you know, when I have to promote my wine and
I do really like my seven daughters, but it's a
it's low in calories, and it doesn't get you like
plastered like you. I mean, I can sip it by
(31:12):
the pool and still function, you know, But I do
have moments where I fast from that as well, because
I just think it's great for my mental because I'm
I'm present.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
I was going to ask what presence did it bring
before you at and prepare for this role?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Oh my goodness, I was able to get up in
the morning. And another thing I find when I don't
drink is that I can work out, you know what
i mean. Like, that's one vice that I pick up
and I go hard with. I mean, I'm sure you've
seen some of my videos that I'm pouring into myself
(31:49):
because I'm present, you know, I'm not numbing out.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
What's one quiet decision to Roger you made that had
the biggest impact on your career but never made.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Headlines the biggest say that again, it was one.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Quiet decision you made that had the biggest impact on
your career but never made headlines.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Quiet decision. I mean, it seems like everything I do
makes the headline because I thought me going to BALI
was gonna be quiet, and it's still we're still talking
about it. I think I talk about everything. I don't
think you know, because I feel like if you have
(32:26):
a story to tell, tell it. I try to keep
my breakup. Gab. Oh, that's a good one. I'might have
to call you back on that one. You have to
call you back. Well, this is not even this is
not even a question.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
But in watching Straw, I got John kevibes, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Well. The difference with John Q is that he was
very conscious and what he was doing. He was trying
to save his son, and he was like, I ain't
got no money. The insurance is not paying, so I'm
gonna stick y'all up, you know. But it was like
what you would do, what links you would go through
your new mom for your kid. It hits you in
(33:08):
a new way, doesn't it. When you become a mother,
and it's real, like it's not about you anymore. Once
you become a parent, you have this whole existence and
being and human that you are responsible for. And if
you are a responsible person, that's a very serious job
for you. Like you know, before you were probably like
(33:30):
I'm a you know, you know, a public figure. Now
it's like I'm a mom first, you know. So it's different.
Life is different when you have that kind of responsibility
and you'll do anything for your child and you and
the hurt that they feel, you feel it ten times
more because you feel like it's my job to protect
(33:51):
this child. And so when they're bully, you ready to
go to wall because it's like, no, how dare you?
You know?
Speaker 6 (33:58):
And Jeniah snapt but she kept going, didn't he Really
she didn't know.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
She had no idea. She was operating outside of herself.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
A lot.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
We know a lot of things you do are super
intentional because, like you said, you so, what's the most
strategic thing you've ever done?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That people mistook as emotional?
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Probably talking about the paying that because I have a
crying about money. I tell you what, bitch, if you
want to eat, you better speak the fuck up right.
The squeaky wheel gets figged, mouth don't get fed right.
And I'm gonna tell you who's not complaining about that
money anymore?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Because after that, Hollywood started coming.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Correct, man, listen, they have to you do you want
to hit my mouth again? I demanded that respect. This
is my last question. Are you happy? I'm so happy.
I can't expect people go you're glowing? Yes, because I
am not dealing with nobody's a hell child at peace,
(35:01):
the peace that I have been fighting for. I have it,
and it has nothing to do with anybody, no other human.
It's all in me. I love you. I love you.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Do you even tell the unhealed people anything anymore?
Speaker 4 (35:14):
No? No, because sometimes they ain't ready to hear it.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I will say, I hope you heal.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
I do say that, you know, I just cause sometimes
they take that all right right, you know? So it's
just for you to discover.
Speaker 8 (35:33):
Sweet well, thank you?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Is this Friday?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Netflix?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Definitely check it out.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
And wait till you see what we do for you
in this building.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
You see is it a bust?
Speaker 8 (35:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
It is a bus like a.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (35:49):
Don't put no badass wig on it.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Like yesterday will be a bust.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Okay, were in the situa of his table in the.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Hall because people will see it whenever they want. So
you have to go buy Angie Studio and.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Coming it look like me. Don't like.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
The way waves when the way Wade statue that don't.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Don't do that, yeah, because that's okay, not mine. And
I met thank you.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
For your career than not ending the interview yet. I
thank you for that, thank you, thank you for you.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
Yes, that's your career, you the person that you are,
because your career has given you the platform to be
out here being the mental health advocate that you are.
And I think that that work is going out outlive
probably anything, I hope.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
So yeah, that to me feels like probably why God
set me up to be a public figure to get
to that. Absolutely, yeah, so grateful, Thank you so much, guys.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
This is beautiful and gentlemen, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,
wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
The Breakfast Club.
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Speaker 2 (01:01):
Wake that ass up in the morning, the breakfast club morning.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Everybody in the j n V just hilarious charlamage the
guy we are the breakfast club. Lonla Rosa is here
as well, and we got a special guest.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
In the building. Yes, indeed, the legend Taji p Henson.
Welcome back.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Thank you. I can't tell that I'm a legend because
I'm not on this wall. Can you get the wall?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
We got something special for you done yet.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I'm telling you I need to be on the wall.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
It's gonna be bigger than the wall, and it's gonna
be something that's in the studio because you know, we
love you, Angie, love you.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Watch you'll see watch, just watch. It's gonna be worth it.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You know I've been I've been told them put you
up here. What he's saying to me as soon as
I walk ahead, you sound like Hollywood exect right now.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Hell, legend, we're looking for somebody else.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Nobody said that to you, no more than what they
been looking for somebody else.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's it's just the whole Hollywood of it all. We
love her, we love her. Well, where is my check?
Speaker 5 (02:06):
One thing I know about you and OG's like Mary
j BLI, y'all over it.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
I can be I just you know. The thing is
the older you get. I just can't do the b asked, like,
just be real with me, that's all. I'm a grown
ass girl, a woman. I can take it. Just be real,
don't be blowing smoke.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How are you feeling? How are you feeling?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Was great? I am feeling amazing, to be quite honest,
because I'm not dealing with nobody's unhealed son or daughter.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Can't. You're not on your healing journey. I can't help you, baby,
because I can't take on your trauma while I'm trying
to get over mine. Yeah, and you not trying to
heal yours. I can't help you. I'm not qualified yourself.
Oh my god, the peace that I found, like, you know,
even somebody asking me to come out, the first question
(03:03):
I asked, is is it going to disturb my peace?
Because you know, when you're young, you just you gonna
have phone mall a little bit. It's like I gotta go,
and then you find yourself going why did not? Why
did I just stay home? You know, no more of
those moments because I'd rather be home with my fat frenchies.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
You don't always want to ask you as being an
advocate for mental health ever made you feel more exposed
than being just a public figure in Hollywood. More exposed, Yeah,
because you tell you tell more of yourself being a
mental health advocate, because you probably if you was just
Taraji in Hollywood, who wasn't that you wouldn't have to
probably give up so much.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
That's true. But I kind of always been that, So
I wear my heart on my sleeve. So I just
I don't know if I feel any different. I'm still
looking at this wall, but go ahead.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I want to ask, when did you get to the
point where you don't have to come out for the BS?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
It's weird. We just had this conversation the other day
where it was like I got to a place a
couple of years ago where I just say no. Before
it was like I felt like I had to do it,
I had to show up, I had.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To go and sometimes things up your piece.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But now to the point where if I feel like
the energy is gonna be off or I just don't,
I'm not going.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
No. It is my favorite word. I love saying that
word no, and that said I don't owe your explanation.
Like when I was with our forever first Lady Michelle
Obama doing her show She was like, no, it is
a complete sentence, and it absolutely is.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
When did you get there?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
When?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
When did it click?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Which trip was it? The first one? The first one
when I went alone, the first one, because that that
refocused me, recentered me. I was. I didn't I felt
outside of myself before I went to Bali. That was
a well needed trip because I was literally losing myself.
I didn't even know who I was the joy. I'm
(04:52):
a I'm the one that brings the life to the party,
you know, and I become I was like tight all
the time, not happy and complaining a lot. That's just
not me. Even my team noticed, they were like, is
everything okay? You don't you seem a little you know,
And that's just not in my DNA. So I had
(05:13):
to unplug and just go away and be with myself
and in the middle of a rice field.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
You want to share that with the world that I
started seeing that people need to hear that.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
I think sometimes when they see public figures, they think
we have it all together because we've you know, we've
found some money or whatever. You know. People think that
money heals and money will bring you more problems than
you had when you were broke. I often find myself saying,
damn I missed when I was broke and dreaming because
everything seemed possible, you know, but then when you make
(05:49):
it and you you get behind the Wizard of Oz
curtain and it's like, oh, it ain't what it seems.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Straw.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yes, a very moving film.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
Thank you, Yes, listen, what did you What did you channel?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Because you you are healing, you mean your healing journey.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
But to put yourself in a role like that, you
had to go back. You had to go back. That
was a trying day. So the movie was like it
took place one day to deal with all that in
the day and to have to embody that much trauma.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Because I don't want to give away to ending.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
It's gonna fuck you. What what did you pull from?
Did you have to go put yourself back where you were,
where you were going through everything?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Executives.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I am a single mother, you know. I moved to
Hollywood with my son, who was a toller at the
time of seven hundred dollars in my pocket and just
a pocket full of dreams and Jesus and so I've
you know, humans, we all have can have a moment
where we can snap. You know, I think what made
me different from Jenia's that I've always had a support system.
(07:04):
So I have a sister circle where they'll talk me
off the ledge, you know what I mean. But have
I ever got to the point where I wanted to snap? Yes,
that's why I went to Bali, you know what I mean. So,
but she didn't have the resources, she didn't have the support,
so all she had was the voices in her head,
and she literally reached them her point where she just
(07:25):
couldn't take it anymore, and things just got out of
control and she God, bless her heart, she was just
trying to do the best she could with what she had,
you know. And I in particular, I am drawn to
characters who are voiceless and need a voice because I
am such a big personality. I like to breathe light
(07:45):
into those characters because I feel like those characters are real.
You know, Tyler Perry and just pulled us out of
the sky. These women exist, These people exist, and they
need to see themselves, and they need to know that
they're not alone and that people do see them.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
To make you mad when people tell Tyler Perry to
stop showing those women on camera, I.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Think that's their own trauma's trigger because in the community
black community, we don't deal with it, you know what
I mean. So if you're forced to look at it,
often you will be triggered. So the first thing you're
going to one to say is I don't want to
see it, but there are people out there that need
to see it. He's forcing real conversations in the community.
(08:25):
That's why I'll never stop working with him.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
So for a person that doesn't work on themselves the
way you do, when you got to go on an
intense emotional journey for a four day shoot, what is
your approach to that?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Like, how do you prepare for like those inevitable triggers.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I have trained well, I think out of necessity. I've
trained my instrument. My body is my instrument, just like
you know, a musician has a guitar, they know how
to hit the notes. I have a know and off switch.
And I think that's because I was a mother very
young and when I would work and come home, I
didn't have time to process and deal with the character
(08:58):
that opportuny because now it's homework. He got eat, I
got a science fait project, you know what I mean.
So I had to turn it off, so I'm just trying.
I Literally, you ask anybody that I've worked with. I
could be in the middle of a singing, balling my
eyes out and they'll yell cut, and I'll be like,
what a fried chicken? Or I have these games that
(09:19):
I play on my iPad to because I have to
separate myself from the character. I cannot stay again that
is that character's trauma. I can't take that on. I
just can't because I have my own shit to deal with.
So literally, when they yell cut, I'm back to Taraji
just like that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Is it easier to shoot a four day movie because
you did this movie in four days, right? Or is
it more difficult because you got to do everything in
those four days.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It's taxing, But I like it, especially when the subject
matter is so heavy, because I don't have to stay
in it long like I you know, that fourth day,
I was like, oh my god, I gotta do this again,
you know what I mean, because it's not comfortable. Showing
a character's trauma and pain is like showing you some
of my trauma and pain and it's healing, but having
(10:09):
to open up those wounds, it's not comfortable. It's not
comfortable to be in that, but it is healing.
Speaker 8 (10:15):
There's a visual reference in the movie.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
I think what I call it is a visual reference
to Annie Lee's Blue Monday. Yes, that's exactly it. Okay,
So I'm not crazy, no talk, Okay. So even visually
showing things like that in a film and it being
like that's like that image is so iconic and you're
speaking without speaking when that scene happens, when you're looking
at a script. Is that something that's already there when
(10:38):
you and Tyler Perry are discussing. Perry came up with
that all on his own, okay, Yeah, and he nailed it. Oh.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I know the painting too.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
And I've had Blue Mondays, you know where I just
felt like, shit, I don't want to do it today.
I think we all understand that. That's why that painting hits,
especially for black women.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
How did your advocacy for mental wellness inform your portrayal
of Janaia's.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Psychological understanding her breaking point and understanding what it is
to just be going through the motions barely hanging on
by a thread, Like I get that, I understand what
that looks like. That's why at the end when they
go back, you kind of you like, oh, you can
see exactly when she snaps it's crazy. I ain't trying
(11:27):
to do it is crazy.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
Somebody in the movie said it's more expensive to be poor.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Oh my god. Okay, So prime example, Tyler said when
he was homeless, he called his mother and was like,
can you send me twenty dollars? She said, you need
to bring your black ass home because it's gonna cost
me fifteen dollars just to send you twenty dollars. Damn.
And I don't think people really understand that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I wanted to know, without giving too much a way,
what's the message in Straw that you hope sticks.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
With people after the credits roll?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So there was women unity, There was so much about it.
What's that one message that you want people to get
it and understand.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
That we should move with grace at all times because
you never know what somebody's going through. Never judge a
book by its cover, because you never know what battles
a person is a fighting You just don't and really
see people, really don't just throw how you doing, and
you know, really wait for a response and really ask
the question to want to know you know, connect with
(12:32):
people say hi, how are you? You know, and really
mean it, because that could save a human's life, just
that human interaction, especially for people who feel unseen.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Only when Tyler even was casting you for that role,
did he even know what you had went through? Because
if I write a role about somebody getting to their
breaking point, knowing somebody already had got on, it feels kind.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Of Tyler and I are friends of verse, and so
we talk all the time about personal things, and so
he knows a lot about But he said when he
started writing, he just had to. He was going through
his own thing and he had to get it out
and on the page. And then he said, as he
was writing, he saw me, and he'll bring me a
lot of projects, and I'll be like, you know what, time,
(13:14):
I don't think this is for me. I think this
is somebody else's blessing, you know. And then he'll just
keep writing. And when he got straw, he said, he
hit me. He said I got one for you, and
he sent it to me and I read it. I said,
this is it. This is the one. So that's kind
of how we operate.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
How do you not fight somebody over Tyler?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
How do you not fight because they attacked time, but
one because he does so much for people and he's
so good to especially our community, and I think a
lot of times people don't see that, and even people
that he don't know that he doesn't know. Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
He helps so much. He talks to, he godes, he mentors,
and you guys are so close.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
How do you not just say you know?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Because his action speaks louder than the because this man
owns a studio. What you got? Every raise that I've
gotten and how I've whenever I'm treated the best in
this industry is always by him. Every raise that I've
gotten has come from a black man.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
Tyler Perry.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
He doubled my quote in Straw four days of work,
which is so important for when you go on to
that next he understands that that man has helped. He
does so much that we don't even know because he's
not even talking about it.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
Yeah, you filmed two movies at the same time, Fight
Night and Straw. Right, did you find the two characters
bleeding into each other?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It's not at all totally different. He was the first
director to challenge me in that way because I was
in the throes of Empire. When he called with acrimony,
and I was like, Tyler, I don't know. It's being
a thesbian. I don't know if I can get into
this character. He was like, girl, with your instrument, you
can do it. He was like, you're gonna come down here,
We're gonna shoot it in five I was like five days.
(15:00):
He said, you can do it. If anybody can do it, Taji,
you can do it. And he challenged me. He knows
I love a good challenge. That's I lean into roles.
That scared the shit out of me because I have
to grow in some way or change or be transcended
or something. And that's what I want from my audience.
And if I'm not doing it as the artist, then
how is the audience going to transform? So I lean
(15:21):
into challenges and he knows that about him because he's
a virgo as well. And so now I'm a pro
ad it because of Tyler. So when he called this time,
I didn't even think about it. I was like, great,
four days in and out, Okay, let's go.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
In the industry is finally catching up to your arrange?
Are you still underestimated in certain rooms?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
This is an actress no, I think they get it.
I think I'm at a really particular point in my
special place in my career where I've done so much
that I can't just do anything anymore because y'all will
be like, why should do that? You know what I mean?
And so you know, it's just looking for that right
(16:03):
material and it doesn't come like that, so that my
fans are frustrated because I'll post a pretty picture and
they're like, that's cute. When your next movie coming out, like,
I have to be very particular about what I'm choosing now,
and some of this stuff doesn't exist and I have
to create it, and so that takes a little longer.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
What age were you when you did Empire?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
That was ten years I was forty five. It was
twenty fifteen.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
The reason why I asked you that is because I
saw your interview where you talked about your overseas and
how people received you overseas, and you realized then how
big like us overseas were like that whole thing, And
I'm wondering right now in your career, you just said
you can't do anything, and you get into these different
levels so early in your career, even though you've been
our Taraji forever. What are new experiences that you're having
(16:51):
just in your celebrity life at where you are right
now in your career that we might have thought that
you've already experienced before.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I don't know. I guess for me, it's always because
I people always go do you not know who you are?
Like I went to the girl. I still like to
go to the groceres.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
So by my own damn produce, like by Empire, you
were iconic to us.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Okay, thank you, But you know, after so many years
of being told by the industry, oh, no one knows
you overseas, and then I get overseas and they're like,
did ogi please please? Picture? That still throws me, Like
I just came back from can and it's the age
range for me, it's like the Grandma all the way
down sometimes to the great grandchildren. And I'm leaving Connor
(17:33):
and I forget, you know, I'm overseas. I'm like, don't
nobody know me? And all of a sudden I get
crowded by this group of people and then over in
the corner, I see these young boys and it's like
a soccer team or something. They're standing there with their
camera and I just I don't even think they spoke
(17:54):
fluent English, but they knew exactly who I was because
one of them and I was like, babies, come on,
and they all gathered. I'm telling I'm like maybe ten,
but that always throws me when the babies know who
I am. You know, I'm just like, dang, I'm still relevant.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Fifty four years old? You ever want a young girl?
When black women?
Speaker 7 (18:18):
He was like, the age you remind me asking that?
The reason I asked I tell people my age.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Because I hate that women we feel ashamed of age
and when men can have beer bellies balding, sorry.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
I gave, and then we can kind of seehere the like,
but you understand what they.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Can and then they can have a young thing on
there and we let that pass and we have to
be ashamed of our age. No, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
At one point, you were flirting with leaving Hollywood. You
said you were tired with the bullshit, the.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Little ball before I went to the first time, Yeah
I had, I remember, I had gotten too a better place.
But see, that's what happens when you give so much
power over to humans. See, I know God chose me.
I'm called chosen and covered. So when you know that
everything's not gonna be easy, you know, I had to
(19:17):
get back to that. That's what got me to Hollywood
with seven hundred dollars in my pocket and my toddler,
because I knew I had a calling and I just
stirred away from that. But I'm back.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You feel appreciated more.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
I do, I do. I don't. Look, you know, it's
like it's interesting because you go, I didn't get it
nominated for this award again, that's did you see the
powerful talk that Denzel did about how he got bitter?
I mean that was me. That was me, and it
particularly happened after hitting figures. I was like, what do
(19:55):
I have to do? Like you know, y'all didn't see
the rain. Yeah, I'm still playing cookie. And then I
gave you a rocket scientist like what? And that hurt
a little bit, But again it hurt because of the
power I placed in man's hand. But if you step
(20:15):
back from that and take that power back, Look how
many black girls are coding now? Not even black girls,
young kids, kids, period. Like So that's what I always wanted,
and that's what I asked God. I said, I want
longevity and I want the work that's going to affect
lives in a positive way. I want the work that
(20:36):
people are gonna study long after I'm gone, like I
did the greats that came before me, you know, And
when you ask that's specific. It may not be the awards,
you know. I figure if I keep working, that shit'll come.
But what's rewarding to me? Or when fans come up
to me and go bay whatever? That last it touched me.
(20:58):
It made me change the way I, you know, think
about things like that's rewarding to me.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Was on the phone yesterday and she was just saying
how much of a fan of you she is?
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I mean, but I'm just like, there's nothing wrong with
expressing that.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Share that with her because you just existing provides that inspiration.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And then she's shamed me because I was just like,
I was like, you damn right. We saw Toaji.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
I saw to Rogi in the theatters for baby Boy,
and she was like you saw baby Boy in theats.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
She made you feel older.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
I've never thought about baby Boy in a movie theater about.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Crazy my son.
Speaker 7 (21:40):
But I don't know just how you feel, but I
feel like wanting to be in entertainment being television like
it's you think of you because you're able to be.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
It always seems like you've been able to be yourself.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
So when we were like, I know for myself, when
I heard you talk about that before that first body trip,
not feeling like enough, I'm like, wait, what, Like she's
been the this is how you can be the girl
from where are you from?
Speaker 8 (22:00):
Run away?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Whatever you want to call it, But like you're in
Hollywood and you're graceful in your career impacts. So I'm
glad you're out of that because I was like, what
this is?
Speaker 8 (22:10):
Dteragp intem like it was.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Actual burnout because of the work. You know, people go,
you work a lot. I too, because the math ain't
math and the zeros ain't adding up, you know. And
so because you see somebody working a lot a lot
of times when it's us, it's because that one job
is not gonna cover you for the year. I wish
I could just do two films and be like, I mean,
(22:33):
I'm kind of to that point now, you know what
I mean. But there are actors out there that's just
one job a year because that's how they get paid.
And I don't think people really understand the breakdown of
the math. You know, fifty cent. If somebody goes they
made ten million dollars, right, you got to remember Uncle
Sam's coming to take half of that off the top,
(22:54):
and then you have to pay your thirty or forty
percent whatever you're paying your team off your gross. So
you're not taking home ten million dollars. I know it
sounds amazing, but you're not taking it home. Somebody gets
paid one million for a film, they not seeing that
one million in their bank account. Do the math, you know.
So that's why. So I think a lot of it
(23:15):
was burnout and frustration because once I lifted my head
and was like, why do I have to work so much?
You know, I just got burned out. That became bitter.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You know a lot of people thought you were kicking
Thiland Oprah's back in during the Color Purple.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Oh my god, why would they think that.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
I guess that they were the producers of the film,
and they thought that when you were complaining about the pay.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
You know, they had bosses, right, thank you? And when
have you ever seen me drag another woman, particularly a
black woman? Ever? I'm ten toes down for us. Never?
And then the fact that blogs, and I think it
was just a campaign so that this black movie wouldn't
(23:56):
do well, right, because to say I even saw some
bits about it was my fault that the film didn't
do well? Oh yeah, I saw that. What how did?
How did? How? How?
Speaker 7 (24:08):
They tried to say that you because of the conversation
you raised about the money and things that weren't right.
It pivoted the focus to people aren't going to go
see the film. They care more about what is Taraji saying?
Speaker 8 (24:17):
Is it true or not?
Speaker 4 (24:18):
That's you know that total now I know it is.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
But I'm gonna tell you what the conversation, what you're
referring to. We're telling jess what the most.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
And me and Oprah, I have such a love and
a fondness for her. She just texted me the other
day commending me on a job well done in Straw.
So that was all fixtures like and to draw a
wedge between us. But see, I'm not gonna let you
do that because I went to her defense right away.
Y'all not gonna do that to this woman. All of
this what she does, I mean, like, stop it, stop that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Even with Tyler, Tyler is the person that pays you
the most.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
What I'm never gonna not work with Tyler. That just
is that's insane to me. I enjoy working with him.
I really really do. We have fun on that set.
I love that he challenges me. I understand. I'm never
gonna turn my back on us. You know, people that
go to the Tyler Perry films is a huge population
(25:10):
of us. Like, so for me to say I'm not
gonna do it time about, that's me turning my back
on us. I would never speaking of black women in
relationships your character and Strolgian and during her like worst moment,
black women in the movie still like get around her
and heller around her even almost like forcibly, but like
not really because they identify with her absolutely.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
What is you know, not even the importance? But like
when people watch those moments throughout the movie, what do
you want them to take from that?
Speaker 4 (25:40):
That we need each other and we're more powerful when
we support each other. I'm a huge you know how
I am with the sister girls, you know? And I
told this to the Spellman Lady graduating class of twenty
twenty five. The last thing I said to them was like, ladies,
like we are more powerful in numbers. We need to
support each other. Do not air your grievances with another
(26:04):
sister in public. You got a problem with her, pull
it to the side. That's between you and her. To
fix that is not for the public to weigh in
with their shallow opinions. I said, it's black women. We
take too many bullets from society. Why why would I
be another obstacle for another sister to get over. I'm
just not gonna do it.
Speaker 8 (26:36):
Earlier today. I need it to depend on her. How
we've had this.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
I'm glad. That's beautiful, and that's growth and more of that.
But it breaks my heart when I see sisters go
at it in public. It does something to me because
we have enough to overcome. Why should it be another
sister like we got the same struggle.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
So the dynamic between you and Sherry Shepard and Leanna
Taylor in the movie, that's the enhanced like the exploration
the sisterhood and solidarity is.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Absolutely Tyler wrote that, and he doesn't do anything by mistake,
like he's a virgo. He's very calculated.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
Because I was wondering that dynamic was that something you
brought in?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
But it was already there. It's already there. He wrote
it like that, see, because you know Detective Raymond, who uh,
Tiana plays so effortlessly that girl. Let me just say
this about Tiana. She coming for everything, y'all. She's coming
for everybody and everybody's next and everything. She what I
(27:38):
love about her. I mean, she just leaves nothing on
the table. She checks every box. She's just incredible. Have
you seen the snippet for her new video Come As
the mini movie that she directed.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yes, in front of the camera, behind the camera.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Every gift that God gave her, she is using an
I mean, sweetheart, I love her anyway. When she starts
hearing my character Jania's story, she totally identifies because she's
a single mother, so that touches her right. She's like,
wait a minute and see for us. Do you have
(28:16):
you ever seen that that series call is it The Center?
It's called The Center, and it's about people who do
these crimes. And there's this gentleman who's a detective and
he goes to the why. There's always a why, and
when you understand the why, then you're able to show
compassion and give some grace because people just don't do
(28:38):
stuff just because they're pushed to a point. I'm not excusing. Yes,
I'm not excusing the d that has been done. But
if we can just understand why, the why. And that's
why I'm always playing the why of my characters, because
I want the audience to feel for the person. If
I didn't play the why of cookies, she could have
(28:59):
been just another sass, smart mouthed black woman. No one
would have cared. But because I got to her why,
everybody in the world could identify with her. Lays the
cookie too. You know, do you.
Speaker 7 (29:11):
Think that the layers that we see in Jenia and
Straw in her having to learn to be like actually
admit that she's not okay and not just covering things up,
and you talk about your personal life not being a
life of a party anymore and being okay with that.
Speaker 8 (29:23):
Do you think that that.
Speaker 7 (29:24):
That's something that after watching this movie people can take
on easily or like, what do you think people's journey
to get to that point will be after watching this movie.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Everybody's journey is different. Some people find it hard to
very difficult to deal with trauma because it's it's not
easy going through therapy. You gotta deal with the ugly
shit first before you get There is no way to
get over a storm or under a storm. You gotta
go through it before you can see the sun. But
(29:51):
the sun always shines, but you have to go through it.
And that therapy journey is not for the week, and
some people, unfortunately, spend their lifetime just dodging it. And
it's unfortunate because your life can be so much better
if you could just heal, because you find yourself, you know,
(30:12):
almost like a Gerbil in the wheel. If you're not,
because the same shit that you think you're running from,
you're gonna wherever you are, wherever you go, there you are,
and all your problems you cannot.
Speaker 8 (30:25):
You're not drinking or decision and not drink anymore.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Okay, So I do have my wine, and I do
I love my seven daughters, but I do take breaks.
For five months, I had stopped drinking because I felt
like I needed clarity. I needed to get rid of
some negative energy that was in my life that I
couldn't see because and not to say that I have
a drinking problem or anything like that, I just think
(30:51):
like you fast sometimes because you need to reset your system.
I did this sobriety for like five months, and then
you know, when I have to promote my wine and
I do really like my seven daughters, but it's a
it's low in calories, and it doesn't get you like
plastered like you. I mean, I can sip it by
(31:12):
the pool and still function, you know, But I do
have moments where I fast from that as well, because
I just think it's great for my mental because I'm
I'm present.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
I was going to ask what presence did it bring
before you at and prepare for this role?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Oh my goodness, I was able to get up in
the morning. And another thing I find when I don't
drink is that I can work out, you know what
i mean. Like, that's one vice that I pick up
and I go hard with. I mean, I'm sure you've
seen some of my videos that I'm pouring into myself
(31:49):
because I'm present, you know, I'm not numbing out.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
What's one quiet decision to Roger you made that had
the biggest impact on your career but never made.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Headlines the biggest say that again, it was one.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Quiet decision you made that had the biggest impact on
your career but never made headlines.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Quiet decision. I mean, it seems like everything I do
makes the headline because I thought me going to BALI
was gonna be quiet, and it's still we're still talking
about it. I think I talk about everything. I don't
think you know, because I feel like if you have
(32:26):
a story to tell, tell it. I try to keep
my breakup. Gab. Oh, that's a good one. I'might have
to call you back on that one. You have to
call you back. Well, this is not even this is
not even a question.
Speaker 6 (32:40):
But in watching Straw, I got John kevibes, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Well. The difference with John Q is that he was
very conscious and what he was doing. He was trying
to save his son, and he was like, I ain't
got no money. The insurance is not paying, so I'm
gonna stick y'all up, you know. But it was like
what you would do, what links you would go through
your new mom for your kid. It hits you in
(33:08):
a new way, doesn't it. When you become a mother,
and it's real, like it's not about you anymore. Once
you become a parent, you have this whole existence and
being and human that you are responsible for. And if
you are a responsible person, that's a very serious job
for you. Like you know, before you were probably like
(33:30):
I'm a you know, you know, a public figure. Now
it's like I'm a mom first, you know. So it's different.
Life is different when you have that kind of responsibility
and you'll do anything for your child and you and
the hurt that they feel, you feel it ten times
more because you feel like it's my job to protect
(33:51):
this child. And so when they're bully, you ready to
go to wall because it's like, no, how dare you?
You know?
Speaker 6 (33:58):
And Jeniah snapt but she kept going, didn't he Really
she didn't know.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
She had no idea. She was operating outside of herself.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
A lot.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
We know a lot of things you do are super
intentional because, like you said, you so, what's the most
strategic thing you've ever done?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That people mistook as emotional?
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Probably talking about the paying that because I have a
crying about money. I tell you what, bitch, if you
want to eat, you better speak the fuck up right.
The squeaky wheel gets figged, mouth don't get fed right.
And I'm gonna tell you who's not complaining about that
money anymore?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Because after that, Hollywood started coming.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Correct, man, listen, they have to you do you want
to hit my mouth again? I demanded that respect. This
is my last question. Are you happy? I'm so happy.
I can't expect people go you're glowing? Yes, because I
am not dealing with nobody's a hell child at peace,
(35:01):
the peace that I have been fighting for. I have it,
and it has nothing to do with anybody, no other human.
It's all in me. I love you. I love you.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Do you even tell the unhealed people anything anymore?
Speaker 4 (35:14):
No? No, because sometimes they ain't ready to hear it.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I will say, I hope you heal.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
I do say that, you know, I just cause sometimes
they take that all right right, you know? So it's
just for you to discover.
Speaker 8 (35:33):
Sweet well, thank you?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Is this Friday?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Netflix?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Definitely check it out.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
And wait till you see what we do for you
in this building.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
You see is it a bust?
Speaker 8 (35:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
It is a bus like a.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (35:49):
Don't put no badass wig on it.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Like yesterday will be a bust.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Okay, were in the situa of his table in the.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Hall because people will see it whenever they want. So
you have to go buy Angie Studio and.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Coming it look like me. Don't like.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
The way waves when the way Wade statue that don't.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Don't do that, yeah, because that's okay, not mine. And
I met thank you.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
For your career than not ending the interview yet. I
thank you for that, thank you, thank you for you.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
Yes, that's your career, you the person that you are,
because your career has given you the platform to be
out here being the mental health advocate that you are.
And I think that that work is going out outlive
probably anything, I hope.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
So yeah, that to me feels like probably why God
set me up to be a public figure to get
to that. Absolutely, yeah, so grateful, Thank you so much, guys.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
This is beautiful and gentlemen, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,
wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
The Breakfast Club.
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