Taraji P. Henson Says It's Her 'Duty' to Inspire Others With New Memoir
“If my life experiences can help someone else in life, why not?” she said.
— -- Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson said she wrote her deeply personal memoir, a candid and brutally honest account of her life, because “we need each other as humans.”
“If my life experiences can help someone else in life, why not?” she said of making the decision to write the book, “Around the Way Girl: A Memoir.”
“That’s what we’re here for as humans. We make the world go ‘round. We inspire each other as humans. I can’t even tell you how many stories I look at that keep inspiring me to get up every day and fighting the good fight,” she said.
Henson, who plays the beloved Cookie character on FOX’s “Empire,” said her fans were curious to learn more about her life as a single mom in college and moving to Los Angeles with only $700 in her pocket.
“They had been reading about my interviews and they had seen me in my interviews, because you know I’ve always been candid, and so they’d be like, ‘Oh you had a son in college and you still graduated and you moved to L.A. with $700. How did you do it? You need to write a book. Your life is so inspirational,’” she recalled. “And it’s like, God put me on the stage and he gave me the mic. What am I going to do? What am I going to do with this moment in life? How am I going to inspire other people? If people will be inspired by my story, little old me, then that’s my duty. That’s my duty as a human.”
The actress encouraged others by saying, “You can do it.”
“I know people who have been homeless and made their dreams come true. This is something to inspire,” she proudly said of the new memoir, which is available for purchase now.
Henson also had fun behind the scenes at “Good Morning America” where she answered a lightning round of funny questions. Take a look at some of her entertaining answers:
What song do you sing in the shower?
Henson belted out her response to this question, singing at the top of her lungs rather than offering a simple reply. The answer: Jennifer Hudson’s “And I Am Telling You.”
Drink of choice?
“Wine. I love wine,” she replied. “Pinot noir or Sauvignon blanc.”
Biggest pet peeve?
“Mean people,” said Henson. “Bullies.”