Taraji P. Henson was brutally honest about Michael Ealy’s body odor when the two actors shot Think Like a Man Too. Ealy candidly told the story when he appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
The actor first talked about his appreciation for Henson.
“So Taraji, who I love immensely; we’re from the same hometown,” he said. “One of the coolest people you ever meet and the most talented people you will ever meet — we are doing a scene in Think Like a Man Too and I just had a kid. I didn’t get a chance to really, like, work out or prepare for this role and stuff.”
Ealy, who tried to put in a workout before shooting a romantic scene with Henson, didn’t foresee the adverse effect of his effort.
“Right before this scene where I’m like shirtless in the bed with her and stuff like that, I did about 250 pushups right, not in a row … in about 20 to 25 minutes while they are setting up the shot,” he said. “Like I said, I was just working my ass off to try and to pump up the muscles, get the blood flow going. That’s a trick. That’s what everybody does.”
Henson refused to stay quiet when she smelled her colleague’s odor after the two came together to shoot the romantic scene.
“I was glistening and I’m laying down with her and we were in between takes, and she’s like kind of like in here, because I’m kind of on top of her. We’re just sitting there in between the take, and she says to me, she goes, ‘Hmmm, you kind of ripe,'” Ealy said.
The actor tried to defend himself after hearing the brutally honest response.
“She was like ‘Michael Ealy is not perfect.’ And I was like ‘Taraji, you saw me doing the pushups. Come on. You know what I’m going through,'” Ealy said.
Ealy also raved about Henson when he spoke with BET in 2012.
“Working with Taraji day in and day out, there’s nothing she can’t handle,” he told BET. “Anything that I threw at her in a scene, she just knocked it out of the park. She’s so dope. That’s the only word that can describe her. I hope that we get to do more projects together, I really do. She’s phenomenal.”
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Think Like a Man Too, the sequel to Think Like a Man, is inspired by Steve Harvey’s bestselling book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the Atlanta Black Star reports.
Ealy and Henson star in the film, along with Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Gabrielle Union, Meagan Good, Terrence J, Jerry Ferrara, Gary Owen and Romany Malco.
