Taraji P. Henson is set to host the BET Awards 2024 for the fourth year on Sunday, June 30, in Los Angeles. “I'm super excited,” she told BET. “I am. I have been on my mark since the last BET Awards when we had that strike, it was hard. We back, baby.”
The star is promising that viewers can expect an energy-packed opening number from her to kick off the annual show. “Like, you know, I'm always gonna bring the energy. It's gonna be high energy, it's gonna be fun,” she said. “I always have something really entertaining for the opening, so I'm excited to share with you what we've been working on.”
The star has also been outspoken about hitting her breaking point in Hollywood since she said she has continued to be underpaid despite her success after a decades-long career. “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she told Gayle King in a Sirius XM interview last year.
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“I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t math-ing. When you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”
Taraji started acting in 1997, landing small roles in TV shows like Sister, Sister, and Smart Guy, and then got her big break as Yvette in the 2001 movie Baby Boy opposite Tyrese Gibson. So after nearly 37 years in Hollywood, how much is Taraji's net worth? According to the website Celebrity Net Worth, Taraji is worth around $12 million. Other websites, like AfroTech have the actress' net worth at around $25 to $30 million.
Taraji has fought hard to build her wealth, even after she said she has been severely underpaid. She told Variety in 2019 that she initially was offered $100,000 to star alongside Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The role earned Taraji an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The actress was about to negotiate a $150,000 salary, but that was less than the $500,000 she was expecting to make as the third-billed actor in a movie as big as that.
“I want to make this very clear – I’m not saying that Brad or Cate shouldn’t have gotten what they got,” Taraji said at the time. “They put asses in seats, so give them their money. They deserve it. I’m not saying they shouldn’t get what they’re getting. I was just asking for half a million – that’s all. That’s it. When I was doing ‘Benjamin Button,’ I wasn’t worth a million yet. My audience was still getting to know me. We thought we were asking for what was fair for me, at the time.”
The BET Awards will pay a special tribute to another star with a long career, Usher. The R&B legend will be honored with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Taraji said she is proud of him ahead of the awards. “Oh, my God, Usher,” she said. “I am so proud of Usher. I'm just so happy, grateful, and honored to be hosting the night when he's going to receive his well-deserved flowers. He just continues to prove, while we still saying his name and dancing to his songs. He is R&B, baby. What else can I say?”
The BET Awards will air live on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on BET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.
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