“Not Easily Broken”

Our girl Taraji P. Henson definitely keeps it moving! There is already Oscar buzz around her performance in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” coming out on Christmas Day. On January 9th, you can see Taraji opposite Morris Chestnut in “Not Easily Broken,” a film based on a novel by T.D. Jakes. Check out the following excerpt from Taraji’s interview with “Ebony” magazine.

Ebony: Would you say that your character in Broken is more like you in real life?

Taraji: I put a lot of myself in everything I do. I draw from something. Exposing my character’s pain is perhaps a little insight into some of my pain, some of how I love, some of what makes me tick.

Ebony: Well are you saying that acting for you can be emotionally draining at times?

Taraji: It can be. It can be therapeutic. And cathartic. Like Benjamin Button; I needed to do that film because I lost my dad a year before we started filming and it actually helped me bring some resolve to that loss. But that’s the purpose of art. It can effect life. It changes life. It creates life. What I hope to do when I portray a character is that when people see me up on the screen they can see a part of themselves in these characters and hopefully say “WOW! I need to look at this about myself and maybe I can change this for the better.” That’s what I’m hoping, to move people in a positive way, impact their lives in a positive way through my art.

Ebony: I’ve got to ask you this, you’re often the target of all those black celebrity gossip websites. Sometimes they say nice things about you and sometimes not so nice. Does it bother you or do you consider it the price you pay for being in show biz?

Taraji: You know what? Life is like spiritual warfare. The good against the bad, You have the positive, you have the negative. We have angels, we have devils. And I know that even Jesus couldn’t make everyone happy. So who am I? (Laughs) I can’t make everyone happy. Everybody is not going to like me. There are some people who are not going to like me, just because…. And that’s O.K. That’s O.K. That’s life. I’m not wasting my time on trying to change them. I’m only interested in the people who are interested in me.

To read the entire interview, visit www.ebonyjet.com.