Terrence Howard said he's done with acting once Empire wraps. The long-time star of the familial showbiz drama told Extra's Chelsie Kryst he will be hanging it up at the end of the show and moving on to other, vague pursuits.
"I’m done with acting. I’m done pretending,” Howard said when Kryst asked about his post-Season 6 plans. "I’m just focusing on bringing truth to the world.”
Howard offered no clues as to what he meant by "bringing truth, " only pointing out that he wasn't talking about his philanthropy work. However, Howard's decision to back away from that world makes a bit of sense if you look at the year he's had.
In case you missed it, Howard watched his colleague Jussie Smollett be turned into a national news buzzword over an allegedly staged attack and was dragged down into the muck for his defenses of Smollett. When he shared a message of support for Jussie, his fellow actors loudly voiced their displeasure.
"Whatever game was played is unacceptable," Scandal's Columbus Short said in a representative response. "And yes I am speaking on your page loudly and clearly. I look up to you Terence. You have to take a leadership position. And denounce this [expletive]. Otherwise you as dumb as he is."
In spite of the actors' protest, Smollett was not brought back for the show's sixth season and it was eventually canceled, though showrunners did promise a satisfactory ending. Still, it's fair to see why Howard might be feeling a bit disallusioned with acting at this point.
