Taraji P. Henson opened up about a very painful moment in her life during her most recent episode of "Peace Of Mind with Taraji. She spoke about how she hid from her now 26 year old son that his father was murdered. She said that at the time her son was only 9 and wanted to show him the "happy side of life", so she told him that his father died in an accident.
Her son, who is now 26, found out years later about how his father was murdered and confronted Taraji about. Speaking with Therapist Sierra Hillsman on her show she explains the situation:
Taraji: “My son’s father was suddenly taken, murdered, when he was nine and I didn’t know how to tell him that. I couldn’t tell him he was murdered. So, I told him he died in an accident. Later on in life he found out and he came back to me and was like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me my daddy was murdered?’ And so, then we had to get therapy. So, if you have to break the news to a child, what advice would you tell them?”
Therapist Sierra Hillsman: “I would definitely say use age-appropriate language explaining sometimes there are situations where people do evil things to other people. In this situation, somebody killed your father.”
Taraji: “I didn’t have the balls. I didn’t. It wouldn’t come out. I hid it. ‘Cause I read the actual… it was in the paper. And I didn’t know how to tell him. He was stabbed to death; it was the worst way you could die. And I just didn’t have the words. I didn’t know how to tell a nine-year-old… that there was so much hate in the world that someone would do that. I tried to show him the happy side of life. I grew up in the hood and I wanted to keep that from him. I just didn’t have the words, and we suffered later for it.”
Taraji also shared that not telling her son Marcell the truth ate her up on the inside and had her feeling guilty for years. The actress said if she knew back then what she knows now, she would've handled things differently. She said her experience is why she is an advocate for mental health, because she says a lot of times kids act up and we think it's just them being kids, but it's actually a cry for help.
-Natomas Slimm
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