Taraji P Henson Talks Firing Her Team After 'Empire,' Reveals Why Everyone 'Had to Go'

Taraji P Henson is getting candid about letting go of her entire team after her hit show Empire ended.

The 53-year-old The Color Purple star has not been holding back during the press tour for the new movie adaptation, and one of the things she spoke about recently was firing her team.

While there were talks of a spinoff centering on her character Cookie, it ended up falling through, and she decided her team “had to f–king go.”

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The reason to fire everyone? She wasn’t getting any opportunities following the success of her character.

“Firing everybody after Cookie,” she told Variety of her best business decision. “Everybody had to f–king go. Where is my deal? Where’s my commercial? Cookie was at the top of the fashion game. Where is my endorsement? What did you have set up for after this? That’s why you all haven’t seen me in so long. They had nothing set up. All they wanted was another Cookie show.”

Taraji said that her team just wanted to ride out the success of Cookie, but she would only do it if it was the right way and the right project.

“All they wanted was another Cookie show, and I said, ‘I’ll do it, but it has to be right. The people deserve…she’s too beloved for y’all to f–k it up.’ And so, when they didn’t get it right, I was like, ‘Well, that’s it,’ and they had nothing else. ‘You’re all f–kin’ fired,’” Taraji said. “It took me years to get there…you are the prize. Don’t you ever forget that. You are the talent. You are their check. Don’t ever forget that. They work for you. If they are not…somebody else will do it. I stayed with the same team for years.”

Recently, Taraji got candid about nearly quitting acting over unfair pay and treatment.