I have a gift, and my gift is acting

Taraji P. Henson may channel Studio 54 stylings on her cover of Allure magazine, but when it comes to her work, she's a modern business woman.

In an interview with the magazine, the Empire star says she doesn't mix business with pleasure because she doesn't want to be labeled like so many are in the industry. "I always wanted to be known for my work," she said, "Not who I dated ... Not who I slept with."

"I have a gift, and my gift is acting," she explained.

The focused 44-year-old actress, who plays the spirited Cookie Lyon in the FOX original, moved to Hollywood with her son when she was 26. Since then, she says she's been realistic about how the business works.

"I was smart enough to know reality from fantasy," she said of her decision not to publicly date her colleagues and staying focused on herself. "I didn't want to blur the lines. This is a job that I have to do. I cannot get caught up in it. And if I sleep with these guys, why would they want to work with me again?"

"I'm not letting no knucklehead dude come between my hard work and my money," she said.

Henson landed her breakout role as a struggling mother in 2001's Baby Boy but says that she had many "false starts." She explains that if success was easy, however, it wouldn't be inspiring. "Nobody wants to hear about how easy it was," she said.
Source: UPI