The 'Empire' actor recalls a traumatic event which has influenced his life, 'I was standing next to my father, watching. Then stuff happened so quickly - blood was on the coats, on our jackets.'
- Sep 16, 2015
AceShowbiz - Terrence Howard recalled a traumatic event which has influenced his life. In a sit-down with Rolling Stone, the "Empire" actor revealed that he watched his father kill a man when he was just two years old.
While queuing at Cleveland department store back in 1971, Terence's father Tyrone was involved in an argument with a man next to him. The man who had his three kids with him accused Tyrone of cutting them with his pregnant wife Anita and his own three kids including Terrence. The argument went worse and things turned violent. Tyrone stabbed the man with nail file until he fell, then fled the scene.
Terence said, "I was standing next to my father, watching. Then stuff happened so quickly - blood was on the coats, on our jackets - and then my dad's on a table and then my dad is gone to prison." The incident was known as the "Santa Line Slaying." Terence's father served 11 months in prison and at one point he was paroled for good behavior.
The 46-year-old actor still remembers his father's words to him. "My daddy taught me, 'Never take the vertebrae out of your back or the bass out of your throat. I ain't raisin' sheep. I raised men. Stay a man,' " he said. "But being a man comes with a curse because it's not a society made for men to flourish anymore. Everything is androgynous, you know? The more successful men now are the effeminate."
The actor who plays Lucious Lyon on "Empire" also revealed that he wanted to quit the show. Terence said, "I'm just trying to pay my bills. I'm looking forward to this show running its course. If I make a decent amount of money from it, I'll retire." He mentioned one of the reasons why he wanted to leave Hollywood career. "The problem with this business...you lose yourself," he said.
Though Terence said that he lost himself in the industry, he admitted that his character on the TV series was still related to him. "Everything I do with Lucious is still me," the actor said. "I just change the vibration. Because Lucious has a very base understanding of life - kill or be killed - I keep him down at a very low frequency."
