Taraji P. Henson lives on the big screen, but the DC native is just as dedicated to her acting as she is to keeping slim. But where others tweet and stress about dieting and physical fitness, Henson makes it known that, well, she’s not here for that. In fact, the actress is a self-proclaimed foodie, and proud of it.

She tells Style Bistro,

“I don’t really diet because I love food too much. My plan is to retire and become a foodie, a world traveled foodie. I’m going to travel the world and eat in all kinds of different places.”

Now that’s something we can all aspire too! (In moderation, of course.)

But the mother of one also admits that it’s important to be in shape for particular roles, and for those roles, she makes sure to hit the gym.

“I go to the Cardio Bar, it’s a franchise. They combine cardio and dance. You do everything at a ballet bar, so you do leg lifts and tendus and you have to do first position plies and you do a lot of them. It keeps you long and lean. Because I can bulk up, I don’t like lifting a lot of weights. I don’t want to ever look hard; I just want to be toned.”

It shows. Henson is solid as a rock, but still delicate as a flower. A true fitspiration!

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11 Comments

  1. I’ve always loved her figure!

  2. Toned but not hard? She sounds so silly. That’s not the way fitness works. Your body develops muscle the way it develops muscle. Lifting weights WILL NOT necessarily make you look like a “hard.” But it will help you gain more muscle, and the more muscle you gain, the more fat you burn. And you can’t “tone” parts of your body. You either let your whole body lose fat as it will, or you let your whole body keep fat as it will. There’s no such thing as toning. Ms. Henson is misinformed.

    • @Saidah: All bodies are made differently. I’m sure Ms. Taraji knows her body and knows that if she lifts a lot, she will become bulky. Besides, it’s her preference. And you most certainly can tone different parts of your body. You can’t, however, lose weight where you want to. You have no control over where the weight is gained or lost, but you can strengthen and tone the muscles you choose.

      • @Cassie: All bodies ARE made different.y. But the idea that weight training makes people “bulky” is a myth. Weight trainers are just more likely to take supplements and drugs that deliberately make them bulky. I say this as a person who bulks up naturally and quickly.

        And “toning” in fitness-speak refers to aesthetics, not physiology. Aesthetically speaking, you cannot “tone” one particular part of your body. It’s a myth that silly magazines like Fitness and less-educated fitness professionals have been pitching to uninformed, exercise-phobic and muscle-paranoid women for decades.

        All that to say, Ms. Henson always looks beautiful and if she would just rather not lift weights, it’s certainly her prerogative to find some other form of exercise.

  3. I hate the word “foodie”

  4. I like her work as an actress and she looks fit from this angle.Good for her and she has the right to her life and her style.
    But I think she should be more sensitive as the mother of a teenaged son about nude portrayals.

    • @ch:

      What is it with western culture, excuse me, U.S./Britain/Canada, and nudity? Nude doesn’t equal sexual. People all over the world, indigenous, etc. walk around topless and kids naked and no one feels ashamed or the need to sexually assault a woman or child. Nudity is beautiful. Her body is beautiful and if she wants to do that, there’s nothing wrong with it. If her son is embarrassed or sexually aroused by her nude photos then HE has the problem-not her. GOSH!

    • ch, I totally agree with you, what happened to caring about how photos like these might affect your ‘child’, even if they say it doesn’t bother them, or they agree with you, until you see the other persons reaction to ‘your mom’s pic’?? Kamille, western, eastern, whatever culture, she’s the mom of a ‘teenager’ whose ‘friends’ (strangers, etc.) can get a hold of these pics, and likely end up embarrassing him with them maybe. What teenager (young adult, etc.) wants to think about their friends, family members, strangers, etc. j*****g**f to a photo of their mom (yep in your case you’d likely say it’s still their problem, still it’d be his mother who took the shots)? “He has the problem-not her”??? Get real why don’t you put yourself in the shoes of these celebrity’s “children”, they go through enough with the paparazzo following them, now your child has to worry about this??? Really wish us so called adults would get some sense in our heads. My opinion only here.

  5. She’s a beautiful woman and “mother”, but I never understand why we as humans can never seem to be satisfied or happy with what God gave us, and leave something to the imagination instead?? Why must we prove to folks that we can unclothe ourselves to get our point across? I just don’t get it then again with our society, what else is new??

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