The Curious Case of Taraji P. Henson's Pay Check - Actress reveals pay gap

Many of you will recognize Taraji P. Henson from the popular musical TV series 'Empire'. In the TV series, she plays Cookie, the tough and street smart wife of Lucious Lyon, a ruthless hip-hop record label mogul. In her new memoir 'Around the Way Girl', the Oscar-nominated actress reveals the shocking truth about how Hollywood producers have a biased attitude when it comes to determining an actor's pay grade.

Actress reveals pay gap
Henson appeared as a supporting actress in the 2008 fantasy drama 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', alongside leading actors Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. In the film, she plays Queenie, Benjamin's adoptive mother, a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination. In her memoir, she reveals that she was paid a measly 2% of Pitt's salary, despite being ranked third from the top of the cast list (after Pitt and Blanchett). If this wasn't insulting enough, she was told that she would have to foot the bill for her own accommodation whilst filming in New Orleans. This is not normal practice for location filming, generally, accommodation for location is part of the film's budget. The cast was in New Orleans for 3 months, leaving her with quite a hefty hotel bill. There's little wonder she feels a bit sour about this, not only does she get a fraction of the pay check but ends up having to pay for a 3-month hotel stay, while the ones getting the big bucks stay for free!

Taraji P. Henson was Benjamin's adoptive mother ('The curious case of Benjamin Button', 2008)

Henson is not alone
In her memoirs, Henson points to the fact that Hollywood's pay gap does not only apply to gender but also to color. I suppose this must be a pretty tough situation for an African American actress to be in. As it turns out she was in no position to turn down her role in Benjamin Button. She was broke and was preparing to hold a garage sale to raise some extra cash at the time she got the call telling her she got the part. Who would think that an actress in her position would be placed in such a dire position? It really is a strange business and it seems there are no set rules as to how Hollywood stars get treated. Henson is not alone in her opinion of the pay gap situation in the industry, Jennifer Lawrence stated in an open letter that she and fellow actress, Amy Adams were both paid less than their male counterparts for the film 'American Hustle'. But it seems things are little worse for an actress of color, primarily because there aren't too many black female roles in major movie scripts. This situation makes for tough competition among the relatively large pool of highly talented black actresses out there.

Taraji P. Henson as Golden Queen at Empire

She says in her book that she has been turned down for many roles because of her skin color. However things seem to be changing, these days there are much more openings for black people in the entertainment industry generally. The enormous success of 'Empire', with an almost all-black cast, is proof of this, it is popular on TV channels the world over. Since the rise in popularity of the TV series, Henson's popularity has grown and public demand for news of her life has exploded. She is constantly in the media spotlight appearing on 'Late Night Live', 'Good Morning America' and many other TV interviews and other media.