It took Taraji P. Henson until this year to realize men and women are different. The 48-year-old actress says she now understands why men and women fail to communicate – because women have a more extensive vocabulary.
Taraji, who stars in the upcoming comedy movie What Men Want, is engaged to marry former NFL football player Kelvin Hayden. She reveals their pre-wedding therapy sessions are bringing up some interesting facts about herself and her failed relationships with men.
“I’m learning how to be better in a relationship,” the actress tells Playboy. She now knows that men are not emotional creatures; they will shut down if women nag them too much.
“I just found out, in our therapy sessions, that men have fewer words than women. I didn’t know that. They run out of words. Because women are emotional, we want to talk through everything.
“Of course we have more words; we’re the communicators,” said Taraji. “Kelvin, he thinks he’s a comedian. Anytime we’re in a disagreement or I’m like, ‘We need to talk about this’, he’ll look at me and say, ‘Baby, I done ran out of words’.”
“He’s joking, but I’m starting to accept that it’s true,” she added.
In her new movie, which hits theaters next month, the ‘Empire’ star plays a career-minded woman who suddenly develops the ability to hear what men are thinking. She admits that ESP ability would have been a godsend when she first arrived in Hollywood in her 20s as a single mom.
“I didn’t go to the clubs, even though they say that’s how you’re supposed to network,” she tells Playboy magazine. “I have common sense, and nothing about that seemed right to me. What networking happens at a club where people are inebriated? Tell me, what contracts are being signed? That’s stupid.”
Taraji knows the secret to keeping a man is not being self-centered and stop her nagging ways.
“I knew what I had to offer; I just had to find somebody to hear me.”
