Taraji P. Henson Is Dreaming Of Retirement

Retirement is on Taraji P. Henson’s mind.

And who could blame her? After a nearly 30-year career that’s earned her an Oscar nomination, starring roles in films and television shows and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Henson has been thinking hard about what her future will look like. More ease. More comfort. Less acting.

“When I say ‘retirement,’ I mean not that I will never, ever work again. But I want to finally get to a place where I don’t have to do an acting job to pay bills,” she said. “I think that’s when it’ll get back to being fun again for me. Not that I’m stressed and taking every job or whatever. It’s just that right now I do still rely a lot on my acting income to pay my bills and make things happen.”

In December, Henson’sviral SiriusXM interview with Gayle King reignited a big conversation about the pay inequity Black women face in Hollywood when Henson said “the math ain’t mathing” for those who look like her.

“It seems every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again, like I never did what I just did, and I’m just tired,” she told King through tears.

Shortly after that interview, the 54-year-old actor got a call from “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” producers Will Packer and Kevin Hart. There was no audition. No having to prove herself. Just an offer for the role as the top woman on the bill, starring opposite Hart. And with Samuel L. Jackson already attached to the project by then, Henson was sold. This was what she meant by quality over quantity.

“Fight Night” is loosely based on a robbery that occurred in Atlanta on the night of boxer Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight. After Ali’s title was stripped for his refusal to