Taraji P. Henson fired her entire team after “Empire.”
The actor was left frustrated that she had no work lined up after the huge success of the Netflix musical drama, in which she starred as Loretha “Cookie” Lyon, née Holloway, from 2015 to 2020. So, she decided to get rid of the business people around her.
“Everybody had to go. Where is my deal? Where’s my commercial? Cookie was at the top of the fashion game. Where is my endorsement? What did you have set up for after this?” she said in a conversation with Variety’s Angelique Jackson. “That’s why you all haven’t seen me in so long. They had nothing set up.”
Her team had suggested she do “another Cookie show,” but it didn’t go as planned.
“I said, ‘I’ll do it, but it has to be right. … She’s too beloved for y’all to [mess] it up.’ And so, when they didn’t get it right, I was like, ‘Well, that’s it,’ and they had nothing else. [That’s when I said], ‘You’re all fired.'”
The Golden Globe winner also spoke about not being willing to accept less than what she is worth after being offered less money than her White co-stars.
“I put in the work so that I could have a voice so that I could say no [to unfair offers] so that I could fight for those coming in behind me. You can’t just pay me anything ’cause I’ll say no,” she shared.
