The Personal Reason Why Taraji P. Henson Speaks Up About Mental Health

In addition to providing “a safe space for these young women to decompress,” Henson said, the pods will offer a range of services, including free virtual and in-person therapy and self-regulatory practices such as yoga and meditation. 

“We prepare these young ladies to get their degrees, but do we fully prepare them for the world to come?” Henson noted. “We wanted to do something about that. We want to see women win and we want them, most importantly, to be mentally sound.”

All of which has motivated Henson’s openness when it comes to her own mental health journey, whether she’s acknowledging in an interview that she’s struggling or sharing photos from her trip to reclaim her smile. And she practices what she preaches as a mom, wanting Marcell to be comfortable talking about his feelings as well.

“Humans are gonna go through tough times,” she said. “I can’t prevent that, for him or anybody else. But we can just be there for each other and share our experiences. That’s why I’m so vocal about what I go through, so that hopefully it’ll help someone else.”