This article originally appeared on InStyle.
There’s attitude, there’s badass-itude, then there’s Taraji P. Henson. The star only continues to inspire us both on and off-screen, and when it comes to making major decisions, we abide by a “What would Cookie do?” train of thought. No surprise here that her outlook on beauty is decidedly more kickass than the trite “live laugh love”-esque quotes plastered all over Instagram.
“Just don’t be afraid to be who you are, whatever that is. Enhance it,” she told InStyle exclusively at a launch event for Viktor & Rolf’s upcoming fragrances last night. “If you have a big butt, enhance it—that’s very in today! If you have big eyes, big hair, whatever it is you love about yourself, just celebrate it.”
[brightcove:4114522554001 default]No doubt that she’ll have even more words of wisdom to dole out in her memoir Around the Way Girl ($17; amazon.com), which just hit stores today. Henson became inspired to share her story after being asked by fans, via Twitter no less, how she got to where she is today.
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“They’d be like, ‘I read this article and saw you moved to L.A. with your son and $700, you’re a single mom, you finished college—how did you do it?’ and I thought, I was put on stage for a reason. What am I gonna do with that? What am I gonna say?” she said.
“I have to use my life experiences, because that’s how we move humanity forward, right? We say, this happened to me, and we can overcome this if you do what I do and believe in yourself. That’s why I’m where I am because I had people who came before me who inspired me, and that’s what we’re all here to do as humans.” One key piece of advice she wants to pass on to every girl in the world? “Don’t take no sh-t,” she said, laughing. Our love for her officially knows no bounds.