The Color Purple star Taraji P Henson has vocally condemned Hollywood’s race and gender pay gap, breaking down in tears as she said: “The math ain’t math-ing.”
Henson was speaking on Gayle King’s radio show on Sirius XM, and was asked by King if she was considering quitting acting. Henson replied: “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious about what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost. I’m tried of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired.”
She added: “I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ I have to. The math ain’t math-ing. And when you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”
Henson then explained “the math”, saying, “So, when you hear someone saying, ‘Oh, such and such made $10 million,’ know that didn’t make it to their account. Know that off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50%. OK? Do the math, now we have $5m. Your team is getting 30% … off what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now do the math.”
“I’m only human. It seems every time I do something and 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 tired. I’m tired. It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me then what the fuck am I doing?”
Henson appears as Shug Avery in the forthcoming musical version of The Color Purple, and previously starred in What Men Want, Proud Mary and Hidden Figures. She was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and won a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV series (drama) for Empire.
