Taraji P. Henson never misses a moment to keep it real about her career ascension. Now, she’s opening up about her trajectory and how she thought things would go after her popular 2000s film “Baby Boy.”
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Henson starred with Tyrese Gibson in “Baby Boy,” a film that jump-started both of their careers. Gibson quickly moved into major franchises, including “Fast & Furious” and “The Transformers,” opportunities Henson did not receive, despite encouragement from those around her.
“That was huge for me. I was, I was a female lead, I was new to Hollywood, and I just remember everybody coming to me going, ‘Oh my God, you’re gonna blow up. Do you understand what John Singleton does to people’s careers? Look at this person and this person,’” Henson explained in a new episode of Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast. “But I don’t know, discernment told me something different. And I just knew it wasn’t gonna be that way.”
Henson went on to say that she felt her career wouldn’t be a straight shot to the moon, but alternatively, she could see the positive writing on the wall for Gibson.
“Something sat on my heart, and it was like, I don’t know that that’s gonna happen like that overnight for me. And so, sure enough… but I knew deep down it would for Tyrese. And it’s no hate or anything, I just knew,” she explained.
While the contrast was stark for her, Henson recalled not making too much of it at the time because she was still booking jobs. However, as time went on, she began to become more aware of how vastly opposite both her and Gibson’s careers were taking off.
Yet and still, the Oscar-nominated star is determined not to let that get her down or make her bitter, especially now that she knows there are bigger things happening behind the scenes that influence what roles she can secure.
“After ‘Baby Boy,’ Tyrese booked two franchise films, huge: ‘Transformers’ and ‘Fast and Furious.’ I still have not booked my franchise film. Been in the game almost 30 years. No franchise film,” she said. “I’m not gonna cry about it. I mean, it just, I know what it is now. Now, I’m on the other side of the table now. You can’t hurt my feelings anymore because now I know there’s politics involved.”
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