Taraji P. Henson "yearns" for "real love".
The ‘Empire’ actress insists she would never settle down and marry someone if she didn’t feel confident she’d found true happiness because she wants to set a good example for her 22-year-old son Marcell, whose father William Johnson was murdered in 2003.
She said: "If I was going to get married, it had to be for love, because I wanted Marcell to see that real kind of love — the kind I yearn for. That old couple crooked and bent over but still holding hands. I know that kind of love exists and I’m not going to stop until I have that."
The 45-year-old star admits being a single parent is "not easy" and she wouldn’t wish her circumstances on anyone else.
Discussing the pressure to do it all as a single mother, she told Redbook magazine: "It depends on what women equate success with. I think we try to do our best. And yes, we can do it all, but I wouldn’t wish being a single parent on my worst enemy. It is not easy."
Taraji thinks people these days are overprotective of their children and they need to be more exposed to real life and problems.
She said: "These days we’re so busy protecting our kids, when we really should be pulling back the blinds and showing them that we live in a world that’s not always fair and moral. Sometimes we try to protect our children so much that when something doesn’t go right in their lives, they’re unprepared to deal with adversity. I don’t think that does our kids any favours."
The actress – who turns 46 on September 11 – doesn’t worry about getting older.
She said: "I grew up watching women in my family embrace getting older and I think that’s healthy. You ought to see my grandmother: She is 92, looks great, still travels, and dates a younger man. I’m 46 and I’m proud. Men don’t lie about their age, so why should women?"
or advice on staying strong when the odds are stacked against you. It is for them that Taraji says she wrote her new memoir, Around the Way Girl. "God didn’t give me anything more than he gave anyone else," she says. "We’re all born with a deck of cards and no instructions on how to play them. All God gave us was choice. You can choose to wake up sad or to wake up happy. I chose not to live in fear and to make the best of my life. You can’t put your happiness into anybody’s hands but your own."