00:00There's no validity to there being a thing between Taraji and I.
00:04Oprah is setting the record straight.
00:05There's no bad blood between her and the color purple actress Taraji P. Henson.
00:09Over the last few weeks, Henson has opened up about her experiences fighting for pay
00:14and on-set accommodations while working on the film, as well as other projects.
00:18During one such interview on Gayle King's Sirius XM radio show,
00:22Henson got emotional while discussing the difficulty of spending years working in the industry
00:26and not seeing pay increases reflective of her experience.
00:29I'm just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost.
00:41Most recently, the actress revealed in an interview published last Friday
00:45that she had to fight to secure a number of things for herself and her fellow black female co-stars
00:49while filming the color purple, including a car service to take them to set.
00:53The internet has speculated that Henson could be upset with the color purple producer Winfrey.
00:57Now, Winfrey is clearing the air.
00:59Here's what she told Entertainment Tonight on the 2024 Golden Globe's red carpet.
01:03Taraji will tell you herself that I've been the greatest champion of this film.
01:08She went on to say,
01:09championing not only the behind-the-scenes production, but also everything that everybody needed.
01:14Whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem,
01:17there was a problem with the cars or there was a problem with the food,
01:19I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right.
01:22And I believe that she would even vouch for that.
01:25Amidst early online speculation of bad blood,
01:28Henson posted a photo of the pair on Instagram in late December, which she captioned in part,
01:32Ms. Oprah has been nothing less than a steady and solid beacon of light to all of the cast of the color purple.
01:38The color purple star Fantasia Barrino also echoed those sentiments about working with Oprah
01:42while speaking to the Hollywood Reporter at Sunday's Golden Globes.
01:45First of all, for Oprah to be in the trenches with us,
01:48we were out where there were bugs, mosquitoes, hot.
01:54We would always look over and see her sitting there.
01:57And I'm thinking,
01:58she could be like eating caviar, drinking champagne,
02:02which I would love to be doing right now.
02:04But she was there with us.
02:06This story means a lot to her.
02:07And I already know when you have something that blessed and something that good,
02:12a lot will try to come against that, you know?
02:16And so I will say she was a blessing to us.
02:19She talked, she laughed.
02:20She did the electric slide with us.
02:22I'm like, come on.
02:23I didn't even know if she could do it and dip into it like she did, but she did it.
02:27And I thank her for that.
02:29For more on this story and much more coverage of the 2024 Golden Globes,
02:32head to THR.com.
02:34For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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