Johannesburg - Taraji P Henson has revealed that she became a vegan in order to avoid cancer, Essence reports.
The Empire actress made the confession in Instyle magazine, on which she is the cover star for the January issue.
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In the feature, Taraji (48) – who is engaged to former NFL player Kelvin Hayden – revealed that the decision came after she began to suffer from stomach pains while shooting the movie The Best of Enemies in 2017.
“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.”
Health, physical and mental, have been a big topic for Taraji this year. She recently launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation – in honour of her late father.
The foundation encourages African-Americans with mental-health issues to seek the help they need.
“It was born out of necessity,” she told Instyle.
“You know, traumatic stuff happened to me and my son. [Her ex-boyfriend, Marcell’s father, was murdered in 2003.] You can’t just pray it away. I don’t care how strong you are. It gets to you, and if you don’t deal with it, it manifests itself in ways you don’t even know.”
Sources: Essence, Instyle, Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation
