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Taraji P. Henson took over the Angie Martinez show!!!
Straight out the gate she kicks off the interview by saying that the fan madness that surrounds her character Cookie Lyon has “stolen” her entire life!
“It’s overwhelming, going to the store is not going to the store anymore. I used to do my groceries before, but I had to hire an assistant,” she says about how life in general has changed thanks to the success of the show.
While Taraji says that she has been waiting for this moment for 15 long years and it does feel good, she still wonders “where has everybody been?” referring to the fact that she’s been acting for a while now.
On falling for her co-stars, Taraji says that’s just asking for a headache since “you fall for that character” and later come to the realization that the person is “nothing like that character.”
On dating co-stars, she also adds: “If you sleep with them, why would they want to work with you again?”
On us possibly getting a Baby Boy 2, Taraji says that she hasn’t “heard anything about it” and she asks “do we need a Baby Boy 2?” But, she does go on to say it could be done. “Tyrese and I can do anything and they’ll be ready to see us,” she says.
Taraji also gives up one juicy detail about the Empire season finale: Cookie gets herself some loving from her new love interest, Malcolm.
Taraji reveals that she personally hand picked actor Derek Luke for the role of her bodyguard, Malcolm, from a list of actor since “he’s easy on the eyes” and because she had required that his character be “chocolate or not so light.”
Speaking about winning the Entertainer of the Year Award at the NAACP Image Awards, Taraji says that it totally blew her away.
“I didn’t expect them to call my name. Nobody beats Beyonce and I certainly didn’t think I could do it” she says about that win.
The decision to bare the Cookie-Cakes? Taraji says it was not scripted and she shocked the entire cast and crew when she pulled that move.
“It was about Cookie and Cookie getting back at Anika,”she says. “Thank God it looked good…I just did it and thank God it worked.”
On 50 Cent going at Empire she says that she doesn’t “really take him seriously” and she only “clapped back” one day when someone said something about his comments.
“He might be a little scared of me chile, I’m from the hood, South East DC don’t get it twisted,” she says.
She also touches on the whole fan created rivalry created between Kerry Washington and herself.
On the Olivia Pope v. Cookie memes that float online, she says that the two laugh about those. “We don’t have that kind of energy with each other,” says Taraji.
Taraji goes on to say that she even read for the role of Olivia on ‘Scandal’ but right away she knew that it belonged to Kerry.
“Why am I even in here?” Taraji says about reading for the role of Olivia. “It was hers she’s great in it,” she continues.
On whether or not the n-word will be used on ‘Empire’, Taraji says she doesn’t think it’s going to happen.
“I don’t think America is ready for that on prime-time television,” she says. “That word would absolutely be tossed around if this was a movie…now that we accomplished what we accomplished with this show, we don’t need it.”
Angie also touched on Taraji’s love life or lack thereof. The actress who is currently single, says she would love to be in a relationship since it’s “the only thing missing” from her life.
“I’m the goofiest, coolest chick you will ever meet,” she says about herself. “People think I’m high maintenance.”
On what would have been a deal breaker when it comes to doing ‘Empire’, Taraji says she would have walked away from the role if they didn’t hire Terrence Howard to play the role of Lucious Lyon. And rest assure that she did tell Lee Daniels this exactly.
“The reason why it had to be Terrance is because we had the history…we hosted The Soul Train Awards two years in a row,” she says. “We always together…he’s one of my coolest male friends in life…when you think of that love Lucius and Cookie have, you have to have that.”
As far as the new season of Empire goes, Taraji tells us that by the end of June or the beginning of July it’s set to start filming.
She also talks about how she deals with having to do love scenes with Terrence, her and Tyrese crushing on each other during the filming of Baby Boy, and what is the first thing she plans to do once the season is over.
You can give the entire interview a watch below:
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