Actress and producer Vivica A. Fox affirmed she’s not in the same boat as fellow thespian Taraji P. Henson, who recently got candid about the poor work conditions she and her castmates experienced on The Color Purple.
The Chocolate City co-star addressed Henson’s sentiments on the inequalities Black actresses face in the industry with a TMZ reporter Monday, Jan. 8, in NYC.
Without shaming Henson, 53, or undermining her experiences, Fox stated she didn’t have the same experiences as Henson.
“You know, darling, to each its own,” the 59-year-old said. “I’m very happy, very blessed…to each its own. I didn’t have that experience. To get your piece out is important. I totally understand that, and I love my girls for looking out for each other.”
A resound “I’m good” followed, letting the world know that Fox is A-OK!
But Fox wasn’t the only celebrity to speak out on the matter. Actor Lakeith Stanfield vocalized his full support for Henson speaking her truth.
“I’m glad Taraji’s speaking truth and power,” Stanfield said when TMZ caught up with him in the city. “It’s a beautiful thing. Shout out to her. Shout out to Oprah.”
The 53-year-old, who portrayed Shug Avery, sat with the New York Times in mid-December and disclosed the battles she and her castmates encountered while filming The Color Purple, like driving to work without security.
“A lot of the stuff on that set, [her castmates] got because I fought,” the Benjamin Buttons star said, diving into the inconveniences her co-stars faced. “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? So, I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?'”
She continued, “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! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for. I was on set of Empire fighting for trailers that wasn’t infested with bugs.”
As MadameNoire reported, actress Danielle Brooks, who played Sofia, shared more of the issues the stars endured that they know a Meryl Streep or Julia Roberts wouldn’t experience during a Q&A session with the Hollywood Reporter‘s Nekesa Mumbi Moody.
While giving Henson her flowers, the former Orange Is the New Black actress said the veteran trouper guided them and acted as their voice box on set.
“I remember when we first came in and we were doing rehearsal,” Brooks explained. “And they put us all in the same space. We didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time.”
Brooks added that the set crew initially failed to provide them with food during rehearsals.
Brooks and Henson assured that The Color Purple producer Oprah Winfrey didn’t know about their predicament but acted immediately when she did.
Henson has been outspoken about the inequalities Black actresses face for a while, financially and job-wise.
In 2021, she shared with The Real co-hosts Garcelle Beauvais and Loni Love that her castmates (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) on The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons pocketed millions while she only received around $150,000.
But in 2015, Empire aired and became a hit Fox show, with the first season averaging 17.33 million views and each episode garnering 451,270 tweets, surpassing The Walking Dead‘s tweet average.
Henson’s character, Cookie Lyon, became a symbolic character. However, Henson and her co-star Terrence Howard weren’t getting paid the millions they deserved per show, especially after Empire‘s popularity bloomed.
In mid-December, Henson revealed that she saw Cookie Lyon’s importance to the culture and wanted to capitalize from the ballyhoo, but her team failed to summon ways to do so, provoking her to fire them.
