Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis & More Slay On New Elle Cover

Slay, Taraji, slay!

Empire star and newly minted Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson covers Elle magazine's February "Women In TV" issue, reports People.

Henson is featured along with more of TV's biggest stars, like Viola Davis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Priyanka Chopra, and Olivia Wilde, making it the magazine's most diverse feature, ever, according to E! News.

In the interview, Henson opens up about her struggle to keep fan-favorite Cookie Lyon as real as possible.

"It was very important to me that she not be sassy and neck-rollin' and eye-bulgin' and attitude all the time," Henson told Elle."Everything she does is coming from a place of fighting for her family. That's why she's not a caricature."Multi-dimensional characters are hard to find for women in Hollywood. And all of the actresses weighed in on the sexism that runs rampant in the industry.

"If you are anywhere above a size 2, you're not having sex," Viola Davis, who plays Annalise Keating on How to Get Away with Murder, told the magazine. "You don't have sexual thoughts. You may not even have a vagina. And if you're of a certain age, you're off the table."

Welcome to the annual Women in TV issue of ELLE - starring @priyankachopra, @oliviawilde, @officialjld, @violadavis, and @tarajiphenson! See all the covers and more on ELLE.com #regram @robbie_elle

A video posted by Elle Magazine (@elleusa) on Jan 12, 2016 at 7:48am PST

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus noted that the complete lack of substantive roles for women over the age of 30 in film is driving women to television.

"Go to the movies — how many good scripts are you really seeing out there? How many good, meaty roles are there for women within those scripts?"she asked. “Right now, there are so many [television] shows on with strong, complicated, powerful, not-so-powerful, interesting human beings who are women. And I am thrilled to be playing one of them."Sexism in Hollywood isn't new, but it's been at the center of discussion for the last year, particularly with actresses like Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence demanding equal pay for equal work.

Elle's complete list of women in TV features 32 stars, and the issue hits newsstands on January 19.


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