Taraji P. Henson reveals surprising role that made her feel ‘sexy and regal’

Taraji P. Henson has revealed the surprising role that, she said, was, “the sexiest I’ve ever felt.” 

Henson, 53, didn’t say an expected role such as one of her rom-coms (“What Men Want,”) the movie “Hustle & Flow” where she played a sex worker or the series “Empire” where she played queen bee Cookie Lyon. 

Instead, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actress named the intense drama “The Color Purple.” 

“That’s the sexiest I’ve ever felt in any role that I’ve ever played,” Henson told Variety about her starring role in the 2023 musical movie adaptation of the famous Alice Walker novel. 

It also got adapted into Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 1985 film, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, a 2005 Broadway musical and a 2015 revival.

“The Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey is also in the 2023 movie. 

The story follows Celie (Fantasia Barrino), a young black woman who is coming of age in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. Shug Avery (Henson) is a jazz singer who is Celie’s husband Mister’s (Colman Domingo) mistress. Avery later also has a relationship with Celie. 

“She’s musical-theater-trained from Howard [University], so she came to the table ready to go,” music producer Stephen Bray told The Post about Henson.

“And she just worked so hard because, you know, she sings ‘Push Da Button’ like Bessie Smith!”

“It really begins with lore,” director Blitz Bazawule told Variety about Avery. 

“I love when she’s whispered about: Who is she? What is she? So … I wanted to make sure she was meeting that myth and legend with this elegance and the fan. It’s the first time we see opulence. The film is rooted in the rural environment before that push. Environmentally, it demonstrates there’s a world on the other side of the film in the hopes that we’ll get there one day, and the only person who can take audiences there is Shug.”

About her look for the movie, Henson told the outlet, “I felt sexy and regal because that’s who Shug was.”

“The Color Purple” is now in theaters.