Opinion
Oprah Winfrey has broken her silence to address rumors that she is feuding with the Oscar-nominated Hollywood star Taraji P. Henson, who is currently starring in the musical rendition of The Color Purple.
Oprah Attempts To Deny Feud
While walking the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night, Oprah tried to shut down rumors that Henson was talking about her when she recently sounded off on gender pay disparity in Hollywood.
“I would just like to say about this whole Taraji thing … I heard I was trending yesterday,” Winfrey, who produced The Color Purple, told Entertainment Tonight. “People are saying that I was not supporting Taraji. Taraji will tell you herself that I’ve been the greatest champion of this film. Championing not only the behind the scenes projection but also everything that everybody needed.”
“So whenever I heard that there was something that someone needed, I’m not in charge of the budget because that’s Warner Brothers you know that’s the way the studio system works,” she continued. “We as producers, everybody gets their salary everybody is negotiated by your team. And so, whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem, there was a problem with a cars or the problem with their food, I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right. And I believe that she would even vouch for that and say that is true.”
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Winfrey Claims To Love Henson
Winfrey concluded by claiming that she loves Henson while also trying to dispel further rumors of an alleged feud.
“I am all for everybody being the greatest and rising to meet the rising of their own life,” she continued. “There was something online about us being separated at the top of the Empire State Building. On that particular day, we were so cold so I don’t know what kind of body language people were talking about. I was literally just trying to stay warm and that was the fourth thing we had done. There’s no validity to there being a thing between Taraji and I.”
Check out Winfrey’s full comments on this in the video below.
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Henson Sounds Off
Henson has been using her press tour for The Color Purple to expose what she feels is a gender pay disparity in Hollywood. In an interview published last week, Henson claimed that she fought” and secured various things for her fellow black female co-stars while filming the movie.
“They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people. What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car?” she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’”
“Well, do it for everybody!” she added. “It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for.”
Henson also complained about pay, saying, “I haven’t had a raise since [the 2018 film] Proud Mary, and I still didn’t get a raise. They don’t care, they’re always looking for a deal and trying to pay you the least amount. I remember on ‘Empire,’ I was fighting over trailers.”
Henson has yet to respond publicly to Oprah’s denial of their feud at the time of this writing. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments section.
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