Empire star Taraji P. Henson reveals how the love of her life abused her, her father tried to kidnap her and she was almost smacked by her son in gritty memoir

Empire star Taraji P. Henson, who plays the inimitable Cookie Lyon on the hit television show, reveals in a powerful new memoir the violence she has suffered at the hands of the men she loved the most. In Around the Way Girl, the Oscar-nominated actress describes her poor childhood (top right) in a Washington D.C. ghetto and how she struggled to break in to acting. The memoir begins with Henson's earliest memory: Her father trying to kidnap her. She also recounts giving birth to her son Marcell (pictured together, below right) while still at college and the violent behavior of his father, the man she still calls the love of her life.