Taraji P. Henson was forced to become a vegan to avoid cancer. The Empire actress opened up about her new diet in her cover story for Instyle’s January issue.
Henson revealed she became a vegan last year after receiving shocking news from her doctor about stomach pains she was experiencing on the set of her upcoming drama The Best of Enemies.
“It took a doctor in Macon, Georgia, to say, ‘If you don’t change what you’re doing, you’re going to get stomach cancer.’ I said, ‘Say no more.’ So I switched everything up out of necessity. I want to live. Thank God, because I feel so much better.”
Henson has been speaking more about health of late. In September, she launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, an organization dedicated to addressing the stigma around mental health in the Black community.
“For so long we’ve been told to pray our problems away, or we looked upon it as a weakness, or we were demonized for even expressing our feelings, therefore we don’t talk about it. We sweep it under the carpet,” she says.
We are glad that she is taking care of herself.