00:00 "There's no validity to there being a thing between Taraji and I."
00:03 Oprah is setting the record straight. There's no bad blood between her and the color-purple
00:08 actress Taraji P. Henson. Over the last few weeks, Henson has opened up about her experiences
00:13 fighting for pay and onset accommodations while working on the film, as well as other projects.
00:18 During one such interview on Gayle King's Sirius XM radio show, Henson got emotional
00:22 while discussing the difficulty of spending years working in the industry and not seeing
00:26 pay increases reflective of her experience.
00:29 "I'm just tired of working
00:31 so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost."
00:41 Most recently, the actress revealed in an interview published last Friday that she had
00:45 to fight to secure a number of things for herself and her fellow black female co-stars
00:49 while filming The Color Purple, including a car service to take them to set.
00:53 The internet has speculated that Henson could be upset with The Color Purple producer Winfrey.
00:57 Now, Winfrey is clearing the air. Here's what she told Entertainment Tonight on the 2024
01:01 Golden Globes red carpet.
01:03 "Taraji will tell you herself that I've been the greatest champion of this film."
01:08 She went on to say, "Championing not only the behind-the-scenes production,
01:12 but also everything that everybody needed."
01:14 "Whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem, there was a problem with the
01:17 cars or there was a problem with the food, I would step in and do whatever I could to
01:21 make it right. And I believe that she would even vouch for that."
01:25 Amidst early online speculation of bad blood,
01:27 Henson posted a photo of the pair on Instagram in late December, which she captioned in part,
01:32 "Ms. Oprah has been nothing less than a steady and solid beacon of light to all
01:36 of the cast of The Color Purple."
01:38 The Color Purple star Fantasia Barrino also echoed those sentiments about working with
01:42 Oprah while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at Sunday's Golden Globes.
01:45 "First of all, for Oprah to be in the trenches with us.
01:49 We were out where there were bugs, mosquitoes, hot. We would always look over and see her
01:56 sitting there and I'm thinking, 'She could be eating caviar, drinking champagne,
02:02 which I would love to be doing right now.' But she was there with us. This story means a lot to her.
02:08 And I already know when you have something that blessed and something that good,
02:11 a lot will try to come against that. And so I will say she was a blessing to us."
02:19 "She talked, she laughed, she did the electric slide with us. I'm like, 'Come on,
02:23 I didn't even know if she could do it and dip into it like she did, but she did it.'
02:27 And I thank her for that."
02:29 For more on this story and much more coverage of the 2024 Golden Globes, head to THR.com.
02:34 For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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