Terrence Howard, who stars as Lucious Lyon on Empire, did a recent interview with Rolling Stone, and answered some questions in a manner that likely left the interviewer in a state of shock, mouth agape.
The actor, who has his own theories on math, watched his father kill a man while standing in a line to see Santa Claus, and admits to physically abusing his ex-wives, is frightening at best. Despite his talent, once people read the Rolling Stone interview, they’ll likely be left with just one question.
What’s with this guy?
Terrence Howard's life is way more bizarre than you ever imagined http://t.co/1RqSlKV9NG
— Page Six (@PageSix) September 15, 2015
“I was standing next to my father, watching,” Terrance Howard says of the time his father killed a man. “Then stuff happened so quickly–blood was on the coats, on our jackets–and then my dad’s on a table and then my dad is gone to prison.”
“My daddy taught me, ‘Never take the vertebrae out of your back or the bass out of your throat. I ain’t raisin’ sheep. I raised men. Stay a man.’ But being a man comes with a curse because it’s not a society made for men to flourish anymore. Everything is androgynous, you know? The more successful men now are the effeminate,” he adds.
Terrence Howard discusses watching his father kill a man in 'Santa line slaying' http://t.co/nZ5t59srkh pic.twitter.com/HgaJWbwsyT
— People magazine (@people) September 15, 2015
This is yet another attitude that has gotten him heat, but Terrence Howard doesn’t care.
“The people that judge you don’t matter. They’re not real. Everything is just frequencies.”
Terrence Howard calls himself a mathematical genius. In fact, he left college, where he studied biology, over an argument with his professor about simple math.
“This is the last century that our children will ever have been taught that one times one is one,” he said. “They won’t have to grow up in ignorance. Twenty years from now, they’ll know that one times one equals two.”
This bizarre interview with Terrence Howard will leave you wondering, ‘what did I just read?’ http://t.co/KdmGc4HNub pic.twitter.com/rHZ1vsL6Wc
— The Root (@TheRoot) September 14, 2015
Terrence Howard deems himself a man of 432 faces.
“Today, for me, has been about searching out who I am,” he said. “We’ve got all these different faces that want to come out–there’s at least four just in this moment, with a possible expansion to 432–but which one do you let out? Is it the person who’s cool that you’ve mastered? Is it the excited little boy?”
One can’t emerge from reading the Rolling Stone interview with Terrence Howard in its entirety without questioning this man’s sanity.
It will be hard to watch Howard in character as Lucious Lyon on Empire and not wonder if pure evil exists somewhere deep–or not so deep–inside his soul.