Taraji P. Henson battled suicidal thoughts at the height of the coronavirus lockdown and considered shooting herself.
Speaking on her Facebook Watch show “Peace of Mind” with Taraji on Wednesday (December 23rd), the “Empire” star chatted to Dr. LaShonda Green about her darkest days.
“During this pandemic, it’s been hard on all of us and I had a moment. I had a dark moment. I was in a dark place,” she confessed. “For a couple of days, I couldn’t get out of bed, I didn’t care. That’s not me.
“Then I started having thoughts about ending it. It happened two nights in a row and I purchased a gun not too long ago; it’s in a safe, and I started like, ‘I could go in there right now and end it all, because I want it to be over’.
“I thought about my son, he’s grown, he’ll get over it. I didn’t care. I felt myself withdrawing. People were calling me, I wasn’t responding, I didn’t care.”
But Taraji fought her negative thoughts and confided in a friend.
“I felt like, if I don’t say it, it becomes a plan,” she added. “What scared me is I did it two nights in a row. First, it was like, ‘I don’t wanna be here’. Then I started thinking about going to get the gun and that’s why when I woke up the next morning, I blurted it out.”
Taraji didn’t expand on what made her feel suicidal, but a planned Empire spin-off featuring her character Cookie Lyon has been shelved. She has also been very open about her mental health issues.