Monica Schipper/WireImage; Greg Doherty/WireImage; Ivan Apfel/Getty
Taraji P. Henson’s friends are backing her up.
AfterThe Color Purpleactress, 53, spoke out in an emotional new interview aboutthe pay inequality she says she’s experiencedthroughout her acting career, fellow stars are offering their support.
“Not a damn lie told. Not. A. Damn. Lie,“Gabrielle Unionwrote in a post onX(formerly Twitter), resharing a clip from Henson’s conversation withGayle KingforSiriusXMradio. In the interview, theEmpirestar broke down in tears as she called out what she perceives as a considerable pay gap for Black women in Hollywood.
“We go TO BAT for the next generation and hell even our own generation and above,” Union, 51, continued. “We don’t hesitate to be the change that we all need to see AND it takes a toll on your mind, health, soul and career if we’re keepn it 💯.”
“The entertainment industry is just like any other industry. We run businesses to keep our brands afloat, us being the brand/business,” theNopestar wrote onInstagram. “And it’s that team of company members that decrease any assumed large lump sum. This includes monthly expenses just like everyone else. In the words of Biggie, ‘more money more problems.'”
“We ALL work multiple jobs and we may like some but also because we HAVE to. To be successful and live in America it’s literally this way because of the cash to expense ratio and this is why entrepreneurship is so important but that in itself is expensive!” she wrote, concluding her message with aBeyoncéquote: “America, we have a problem.”
Taraji P. Henson.Ivan Apfel/Getty Images
Ivan Apfel/Getty Images
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“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson replied. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters saying the same thing over and over. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ I have to. The math ain’t mathing.”
She pointed out that behind every successful actor is a team of people supporting them. “Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone,” she said. “The fact that we’re up here, there’s a whole entire team behind us. They have to get paid.”
Henson said that her acting paychecks shrink substantially after all of her team’s salaries are paid and taxes are taken out.
“I’m only human and it seems every time I do something and I break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did. And I’m just tired,” she explained. “It wears on you.”
“When it’s time for us to go to bat, they don’t have any money,” she added of her contract negotiations. “They play in your face. And I’m just supposed to smile and grin and bear and just keep going.”
As Palmer explained the importance of side hustles in her post, Henson too has launched side projects — like her TPH haircare line — to boost her income and broaden her brand.
“I have other things because this industry, if you let it, it’ll steal your soul. But I refuse to let that happen,” she said.
source: people.com
