Terrence Howard’s life was rough from the very start. Born to a teenage mom and a father — who Terrence describes as a pimp — his life was engulfed by non-traditional views of love and relationships. The Hustle & Flow actor has made headlines for his messy romances and divorces. But the way he treats the woman in his life is more strange than anything you could ever imagine.
Here’s the truth about Terrence Howard’s strange life.
Things went wrong from birth
To understand Terrence Howard’s views on relationships, we have to take you all the way back to 1968. 16-year old Anita Howard was expecting her second child with 18-year-old Tyrone Howard. Anita decided she wasn’t ready for a second child, so her brother agreed to take her to an abortion clinic. They stopped at a red light and Anita told him, “No, this would not be happening if he wasn’t meant to be here.”
Terrence Howard was born on March 11, 1969, in Chicago. He told Rolling Stone his skin was so yellow that doctors at the hospital thought he had jaundice. They quickly took him to a darkened room for three days. In Terrence’s mind, this is where things went wrong. He said: “No contact with Mom […] Inside an incubator inside a dark room. The first three days of my life.”
He learned from the ‘pimps’
Soon enough, Terrence was released from the hospital and joined older brother Tyrone Howard Jr. at home. They moved to Cleveland and two more siblings named Terrell and Antonio Howard joined the family. Terrence told the New York Times his dad and uncles were pimps, and he learned the gift of gab from them. He said, “They taught me to open women up, but I leave scars.”
He later clarified to Elle magazine that they were, quote, “pimps in the figurative sense.” He said they knew how to win over the ladies and taught him some very important advice, including whoever has the least interest in the relationship holds all the power.
Terrence Howard witnessed a tragic crime
In 1971, two-year-old Terrence, his parents and his sibling headed out to a department store during the holidays to see Santa Claus. A 36-year-old man named Jack Fitzpatrick who there also with his three children. Jack’s pregnant wife was shopping in the store with their oldest daughter.
There are conflicting stories about what happened next. But according to Page Six, an argument broke out between Terrence’s dad and the other man about who was next in line. Terrence’s dad, who was 21 at the time, took out a nail file and used it against the man, ultimately taking his life.
Terrence told Rolling Stone he was standing right next to his dad, so close he wound up with splatter on his coat. His father was convicted and spent 11 months behind bars.
NPR revealed the Howard family fell into poverty after his dad was sent away. Terrence said after finishing his sentence, he was a completely different person.
The emancipation of Terrence Howard
His parents got divorced after his dad was released, and his mom moved to L.A. to try to make it as an actress. Terrence split his time between living in L.A. with his mom and in Cleveland with his dad. Terrence told Rolling Stone he was teased for his skin color and for being a pretty boy.
Things at home weren’t any better. According to the New York Times, at the age of 16, he emancipated himself from his family. Two years later, he moved to New York and he landed a role on this popular sitcom. Terrence told the New York Times, “I conned the casting lady to let me audition, and she gave me the part, but they cut me out of the show. I was angry.”
He thinks he’s ‘God’s gift to women’
He didn’t have to con women in the dating world, though. However, some people believe his superiority complex has ruined his chance of having a healthy relationship. An anonymous source told the New York Post, “He thinks that he is truly God’s gift to women, and he expects subservience.”
A former associate added that Terrence is a control freak. The source said, “When he doesn’t get his way, he loses his s**t very easily.”
While navigating the dating world, he was also working on making it big in the television and film industry. At the age of 19, he landed a role in The Cosby Show. Terrence told the New York Times, “I conned the casting lady to let me audition, and she gave me the part, but they cut me out of the show. I was angry.”
An on-again-off-again marriage
At the age of 21, he married a woman named Lori McCommas. They had three children together and in 1995, they moved to Los Angeles so Terrence could find more acting opportunities. He and Lori separated due to his infidelities. Terrence told Rolling Stone he went to see a therapist and the therapist diagnosed him with intimacy addiction.
He told the New York Times he was ready to quit the business and even contemplated taking his own life. The one thing that saved him was when he landed his breakout role in the 1999 film The Best Man.
His career was finally headed down the right path, but his marriage to Lori was a hot mess. In 2001, Lori hung up on him during a heated telephone conversation. Terrence then went to her house, broke the front door, ran through the screen door, grabbed her arm, and reportedly hit her twice in the face. He and Lori divorced in 2003, remarried in 2005, only to divorce again in 2007 once Lori reconnected with her high school sweetheart.
Terrence Howard’s strange love life was about to take another bizarre turn. After his divorce, he wasn’t looking for love, but he was open to meeting new people. He told Essence magazine he tried to talk to both Halle Berry and Gabrielle Union, but neither of them called him back.
BTW, you can watch Halle Berry’s messy dating life here!
Must use baby wipes
The actor has some very strict requirements for the women in his life. He told Elle magazine he liked women who looked like him and shared his physical features. Terrence also learned how intimacy was detrimental to building a strong relationship, therefore he was abstaining from extramarital sex. This allowed him to date three or four women at a time without getting attached.
The actor also admitted that some of the women he dated would push him into taking things further than he wanted. He said, “Afterward, I would feel unclean, like I’d compromised my own values.” After their night together, he said he would no longer be in contact with them because they weren’t helping him become the stronger person that he wanted to be.
Another strict requirement had to do with their personal hygiene. Terrence told Elle magazine if he went into a woman’s bathroom and didn’t see any baby wipes, it’s a major no-no. He said he would explain to the woman how important it is to have wipes. He added, ”And if she doesn’t make the adjustment to baby wipes, I’ll know she’s not completely clean.”
Losing a loved one
Terrence Howard’s strange love life had to take a backseat in 2008 when his mom got sick. The actor told the Entertainment Industry Foundation that his mom was losing a lot of weight, and up until her very last breath, she didn’t know she was dying. She passed away at the age of 56 and it was later determined that she had colon cancer. Terrence said, “You never know how important somebody is until they’re not there anymore.”
Weeks after she passed away, he sat down with NPR and said, “I became a grown man, because no longer did I have a light to follow. I had to become that light.”
Another messy marriage
On an unknown date, Terrence began dating a woman named Michelle Ghent. The New York Daily News reported that in 2009, Terrence told Michelle he wanted to end his life, and he pretended to swallow some pills, which were later identified as Valtrex — a medication used to treat herpes. The award-winning actor recalled the event and said he only did it because he wanted to break up with her.
Nonetheless, they got engaged. Terrence admitted cheating on her with multiple women during their engagement because he didn’t think he and Michelle ere compatible in the bedroom. But Terrence was trying to be a better man. According to the New York Daily News, he was a Jehovah’s Witness at the time and he wanted to be monogamous and apply the principles he learned from the Bible. So he and Michelle secretly got married in January 2010. How romantic, said no one ever.
A divorce & some hush money
Michelle said a week after tying the knot, Terrence laid hands on her. He later admitted he and Michelle experimented with different substances because being under the influence was the only time they were happy. A year after tying the knot, they separated, and in February 2011, she filed for divorce. She threatened to leak damaging info about Terrence to the public. In response, the Chicago Tribune reports he paid her $40,000 in hush money in addition to spousal support.
In December 2011, E! News reported Michelle was granted a restraining order, with claims that Terrence threatened to take her life. Weeks later, Terrence filed for a restraining order of his own, claiming Michelle didn’t like black people and accusing her of trying to extort him with some juicy information she was in possession of.
Herpes, drugs, and threesomes, oh my!
Terrence’s worst fears came true. All of the information was exposed during a trial where he was attempting to reverse their divorce settlement. According to People magazine, Michelle had phone recordings of Terrence having naughty conversations with other women. There were also text messages and emails from Terrence that exposed his substance issue, infidelities, their threesomes, and his desire to end his life as their marriage unraveled.
The videos of Terrence dancing in his birthday suit weren’t shocking. But it was Terrence’s claim that Michelle would reveal to the public that he had herpes that really made us clutch our pearls. When Michelle’s lawyer asked Terrence if he gave Michelle the STD, Terrence answered, “Yes I did. Or she gave it to me.”
A judge later reversed the divorce settlement and ruled in Terrence’s favor, while a later hearing ordered Terrence to pay her $1.3 million in past-due spousal support.
They attempted to reconcile in July 2013 by taking a trip to Costa Rica. Their attempts to reconcile fell short when Terrence allegedly put his hands on Michelle inside their vacation home. Michelle pepper-sprayed him in defense, and upon returning to Los Angeles, she was granted another restraining order. OMG…
Terrence marries a complete stranger
Terrence Howard’s strange love life went in another direction in late 2013. He went to an L.A. restaurant and spotted a woman having lunch with a man. Terrence walked up to the man and said, “I don’t know if she’s your wife or girlfriend, but she’s absolutely stunning.”
The woman was Miranda Pak, and the man was her old boss. Miranda was taken aback by how bold Terrence was to approach them. Terrence responded, “Well, only a tiger can approach a tiger.”
According to Rolling Stone, they got married three weeks later. Terrence was still stuck in the past, though. According to the New York Daily News, he was still in contact with his ex-wife Michelle Ghent and was saying he would leave Miranda if Michelle took him back.
Terrence Howard’s weird marriage
In mid-2014, he and Miranda split up. In early-2015, she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. They were able to work things out just in time for Terrence to land a role on the show Empire in 2015. In June 2015, he and Miranda welcomed their first son. Miranda told Rolling Stone they had an “amazing connection,” but she knew Terrence wasn’t perfect. She said he didn’t cook, didn’t do dishes and didn’t lift a finger around the house. She called him selfish before jokingly saying, “I probably leave him 30 times a month.”
If that didn’t raise enough eyebrows, Miranda said that after two years of marriage, she’d only gone to restaurants with him two or three times. They never went grocery shopping together, never went to the movies, and she had never even received a gift for him. In addition, she said Terrence spent all of his free time creating plastic shapes and three-dimensional building blocks tied together by a copper wire. Terrence confirmed they worked on the pieces for about 17 hours every day. Chile…
Even though he was making a decent paycheck on Empire, he told Rolling Stone his checks were being garnished by his ex-wife Michelle to cover her spousal support payments.
Miranda was the breadwinner. Terrence revealed Miranda was the one paying the rent on their Chicago apartment, but they had plans to buy a house in the San Fernando Valley one day. He was looking forward to making a lot of money off of Empire and retiring from the industry.
Friendly exes
But there was yet another roadblock. According to People magazine, he and Miranda quietly divorced in July 2015. The friendly exes walked the red carpet at the Emmys just two months after their divorce was finalized.
Miranda gave birth to their second son in August 2016, making Terrence a father of five. And in December 2018, Terrence proposed to Miranda with a seven-carat diamond engagement ring. After the proposal, Terrence had this to say to their family and friends.
If after reading up on Terrence Howard’s strange love life you think he’s crazy, he would probably agree with you. He told Rolling Stone, “The sooner people declare me insane, the sooner I’ll be free.” Chile…
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