Jada Pinkett Smith is adding her two cents to the pay disparity conversation that recently resurfaced during the Taraji P Henson Color Purple press run.
According to The Source Pinkett Smith saluted Henson for speaking out, while revealing her own pay battles during a conversation with NPR.
“Absolutely,” Pinkett Smith said. “My heart broke for Taraji, and I was also happy [to see] how courageous she was to speak about it in the way that she did.”
“One of the things with Taraji is that she is the breadwinner of her family. Her pressures would be different than mine. I have to put that out front, because if it’s time to walk away, that’s not always the solution,” explained the actress. “Because what people don’t understand with us as Black entertainers, we carry a lot of people with us.”
“People would literally say, ‘Well, you don’t need it. You’re married to Will.’
Actress Taraji P. Henson went viral in Decemeber after breaking down in tears during an interview with Gayle King about black women’s pay in Hollywood. Taraji talked about the pay disparities for Black female actors and revealed she was considering quitting her acting career. Now Taraji shares she was surprised by the overwhelming support, because she along with other women of color have been talking about this publicly for years to no avail.
ETonline reports:
Taraji P. Henson was not expecting the amount of support, feedback and attention she has received since passionately speaking out about her experiences with pay disparity throughout her career.
The Color Purple actress walked the red carpet at this years’ Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Film Awards at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Thursday, and she spoke with ET’s Denny Directo about her message, and why she wasn’t expecting it to hit so hard with so many people.
“[It’s] because I’ve been saying it for years,” Henson shared. “If you go and do research and look at any women of color in the industry, they said the same thing.”
“I don’t know why people decided to hear the words [this time], maybe it was the emotion attached to it,” she added. “But like I said in the interview, I’m just tired of us having that same conversation. Something’s gotta give.”
