Terrence Howard Reveals He Saw His Father Commit Murder

Terrence Howard is opening up about the childhood trauma of seeing his dad kill a man.

In 1971, Terrence's dad Tyrone was taking him to a department store to meet Santa Claus, but became involved in a scuffle with another man standing in line. Tyrone was sent to prison for manslaughter after stabbing and killing the man.

Terrence revealed to Rolling Stone, "I was standing next to my father, watching. Then stuff happened so quickly — blood was on the coats, on our jackets — and then my dad's on a table and then my dad is gone to prison."

From the tragic incident, Terrence learned that he needed to stand up for himself. "My daddy taught me, 'Never take the vertebrae out of your back or the bass out of your throat. I ain't raisin' sheep. I raised men. Stay a man.' But being a man comes with a curse because it's not a society made for men to flourish anymore. Everything is androgynous, you know? The more successful men now are the effeminate."

When the "Empire" actor entered his teens, he had to stand up for himself against bullies who poked fun at his light skin. "I was the pretty boy, so people didn't think I could defend myself, but it didn't end up being a good day for them."

During his high school days, he also shocked himself with wires from his dad's electric razor in an effort to cure his Bell's palsy facial paralysis. He shared, "I did that every day for five months and then I felt the slightest little twitch inside."

Howard also revealed that he wants to quit acting after “Empire” ends. "I'm just trying to pay my bills. I'm looking forward to this show running its course. If I make a decent amount of money from it, I'll retire. The problem with this business, you lose yourself.” Read the rest of his interview in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, on sale now.

Back in October of 2005, as Terrence Howard was promoting his film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," the actor opened up to "Extra's" AJ Calloway about the incident.