Taraji P. Henson Recalls Being in an Abusive Relationship and the Moment She Knew She Had to Leave (Exclusive)

The actress also shared the moment she decided to leave the relationship.

Taraji P. Henson is opening up about her past experience with abuse. In an exclusive clip of the upcoming episode of her Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind With Taraji, the 51-year-old actress reveals the moment she decided to leave an abusive relationship.

"Sometimes as women what we do is we fall in love and we go, 'You know what? I'll fix it later,'" Henson tells co-host Tracie Jade and guest Angela Simmons. "For me it was when blood was drawn, because it started with the bruises and grabbing, things like that. And then once the fist came -- I'm missing a piece of my lip to this day -- that's when I knew I had to go."

"I grew up around it and at the time I had my son, and I was like, 'I don't want my son around this,'" she added of her now 27-year-old son, Marcell Johnson.

Henson first revealed her past abusive relationship in her 2016 memoir, Around the Way Girl. Leading up to the book's release, Henson spoke to ET about her experience.

"You can find yourself in any bad situation in life," she told ET at the time. "Guess who it is up to to get out of it? You. That's it. If you're not chained to a wall and no one has a gun to your head and says, 'I'm going to shoot you,' where's the power? You have the power."

When ET spoke to Henson in February, she revealed why being candid on her Facebook Watch series is important to her.

"We are trying to heal," she told ET of herself and Jade. "Us, Tracie and I. It's not like I'm some celebrity that said I'm gonna do a talk show and I'm gonna ask people a bunch of questions, no. We are audience members ourselves."

Peace of Mind with Tarajidebuts new episodes every Monday at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. 

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