Taraji P. Henson Recalls Leaving Abusive Relationship for Son’s Safety

Taraji P. Henson arrives to the “Empire” Los Angeles Premiere on January 6, 2015 in Hollywood, CA (Shutterstock)

By Brad Callas, Complex

Taraji P. Henson recently opened up about her past experience with domestic violence.

On Friday, the 51-year-old actress shared a sneak peak of an upcoming episode of her Facebook Watch series Peace of Mind with Taraji. In it, Henson revealed the moment she decided to leave an abusive relationship.

“Sometimes as women what we do is we fall in love and we go, ‘You know what? I’ll fix it later,’” Henson told guest Angela Simmons. “For me it was when blood was drawn, because it started with the bruises and grabbing, things like that. And then once the fist came – I’m missing a piece of my lip to this day – that’s when I knew I had to go.”

Henson continued, “I grew up around it and at the time I had my son, and I was like, ‘I don’t want my son around this.’” 

The Empire star later shared some advice for people who are stuck in abusive relationships.

“You can find yourself in any bad situation in life. Guess who it is up to to get out of it? You. That’s it,” she said. “If you’re not chained to a wall and no one has a gun to your head and says, ‘I’m going to shoot you,’ where’s the power? You have the power.”

Peace of Mind with Taraji airs Mondays at 9 a.m. ET on Facebook Watch.

  abuse, domestic violence, relationships