Taraji P. Henson recalls the ‘terror’ of explaining the cycle of death to her son

Taraji P. Henson recently recalled the painful conversation she and her son shared regarding the brutal murder of his dad, back when the tyke was barely nine years old.

The Empire star shed light on the painful conversation during an appearance on the Facebook Watch show, Peace of Mind with Taraji.

At the time she was quoted saying, “My son's father was suddenly taken - murdered - when he was nine, and I didn't know how to tell him that. I couldn't tell him he was murdered, so I told him he died in an accident.”

“Later on in life he found out and he came back to me and was like, 'Why didn't you tell me my daddy was murdered?' And so then we had to get therapy.”

“I didn't have the balls - it wouldn't come out. It was in the paper and I didn't know how to tell him. He was stabbed to death, it was the worst way you could die. I just didn't have the words. I didn't know how to tell a nine-year-old.”

Later into the conversation, Tararji’s guest asked for advice on breaking heartbreaking news to children and Taraji was quick to list down a few pointers.

She said, "I would definitely say use age-appropriate language, explaining sometimes there are situations where people do evil things to other people - in this situation, somebody killed your father.”