-We have something in common. We are both Cardi B fans.
-Ohh. -I realized...
[ Cheers and applause ] I mean, come on, right?
-What is not to love?
-She's fantastic. -I love her.
-When did you become a Cardi B fan?
-I was a Cardi B fan before anybody.
-Really? Were you?
-Me, and the, like, 69,000 other people.
I was following her. She had 70,000 followers.
And it was just her personality. -Yeah.
-And I thought she was so bold to just live her truth.
And if we all could do that,
this world would be a much better place.
-Isn't that amazing?
-And it doesn't matter where you come --
She's this perfect Cinderella story.
-She is.
-And she reminds me a lot of myself.
You know, she's just -- she's bold and --
-Yeah, she just comes out and says it.
She's like, "Yeah, I was a stripper."
-And she knows who she is. -She came on our show.
Yeah, she just said, "Yeah, I was a stripper for a while."
And then she threw in a couple [chirping]
-Ohh! [ Chirps ]
-Ohh! That's it!
[ Laughter ]
That's how you do it right there. That's the [chirping]
-[ Chirping ] [ Imitating Cardi B ]
[ Laughter ]
-Dude, that's it. Oh, my gosh. That is a great impression.
Yo, I'm not touching that. That's perfect.
-I love her. I love her. Yes. -I love her, too.
Before we talk about "Empire" --
Because we do want to talk about "Empire."
The premiere is tomorrow.
I want to talk about this foundation that you started.
-Oh, yes. -And let's talk about it
because I think it's such a cool thing that you're doing
for your dad. -Yeah, so, it's named
after my father, the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation.
My father was a Vietnam vet.
He came back with a lot of mental issues,
but he was very open about it.
He lived in his truth. He talked his truth.
He told me to walk in my truth.
And in his truth was mental illness,
but he was very open about it.
He would tell you about how he tried to commit suicide.
And so I just thought - And to honor him
because it's such a stigma
and it's such a taboo in the African-American community,
we don't talk about it.
So our kids don't grow up to aspire to be,
you know, psychiatrists or therapists.
We've always been told that it's a weakness
or we've been told to pray our problems away.
I mean, prayer works,
but it doesn't get rid of the voices in the head.
You know, and I'm not trying to be funny, but it's very real.
So I just felt like this foundation --
I thought if I put a face to it,
a face that people can trust and see --
Because I think sometimes the misconception
about celebrities is that just because we have money
and you see us on the carpets smiling
that when the cameras cut
and the makeup comes off, and the hair,
that we don't go home to real problems, and we do.
And the foundation was actually born out of a necessity
because I had a few traumatic things happen in my life.
My son's father was murdered when he was 9,
and my father died two years later.
And when it came time to look for help,
especially for my son,
when the person across the sofa from you
is not "culturally competent" or doesn't look like you,
then you won't speak your truth.
So when it came time to look for a psychiatrist,
you know, a black psychiatrist,
it was like looking for a unicorn.
It really was. You couldn't find them, you know?
And so I felt like we needed an open dialogue
and we need to just eradicate the stigma around mental illness
in our community, so here I am.
-Good for you.
-And, yes, I have a therapist!
Black with a therapist!
-You have a black therapist. Perfect, yeah.
Let's talk about "Empire." -Mm-hmm.
-What is going down season five? What's happening now?
What do we have to look forward to?
-Well, the Lyons have lost everything.
-That's right. -But they haven't.
They just lost this building, the Empire,
the shell of that building.
And Cookie's so bold. She knows what she has.
She knows what her family has to offer.
She walks away from that company
because she feels like the power is in the family
and what they bring to the company.
So she walks away. She gives it to little Eddie Barker.
Because we go off, and we form --
We are now formed as a unit, as a family unit.
There's no back-stabbing this season.
We are together as a family,
and we're building a stronger empire.
-Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.
Stronger. That's right.
-Yeah. It takes some guts to walk away from everything.
-That's right. Taraji P. Henson, everybody.