Around the Way Girl: A Memoir

“Taraji’s memoir is smart, funny as hell and full of that good truth-the kind that we could all use to be a bit more honest, to soar a little higher, to dream a bit bigger. How fitting that a book I enjoyed writing, with a woman I truly respect, on topics dear to my heart (Black women in Hollywood, mothering Black boys, being a daddy’s girl, love of the arts, being FEARLESS) .”-Denene Millner From Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson and bestselling author Deneen Milner, comes an inspiring and funny book about family, friends, the hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood, and the joy of living in your own truth. With a sensibility that recalls her beloved screen characters, including Yvette, Queenie, Shug, and the iconic Cookie from Empire, yet is all Taraji, the screen actress writes of her family, the one she was born into and the one she created. She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life’s challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both in the home and on DC’s volatile streets. Here too she opens up about her experiences as a single mother, a journey some saw as a burden but which she saw as a gift. Around the Way Girl is also a classic actor’s memoir in which Taraji reflects on the world-class instruction she received at Howard University and the pitfalls that come with being a black actress. With laugh-out-loud humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of the actor’s journey and shows us that behind the red carpet moments, she is ever authentic. She is at heart just a girl in pursuit of her dreams.