Award-winning actor Taraji P. Henson, best known for her roles in Hidden Figures and Empire, recently told InStyle magazine that she had decided to become vegan out of health concerns.
Henson experienced stomach pains during the filming of her 2019 movie, The Best of Enemies, and scheduled a doctor’s visit to figure out what could be wrong. She stated:
It took a doctor in Macon, Ga., to say, “If you don’t change what you’re doing, you’re going to get stomach cancer.” I said, “Say no more.” So I switched everything up out of necessity. I want to live. Thank God because I feel so much better.
With her commanding presence, Henson has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and has received an Academy Award and SAG Award, as well as a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. She became the first Black woman to win a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2015. In 2016, TIME named Taraji P. Henson one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
And she’s not the only celebrity going vegan for health reasons. In February, Kevin Smith suffered a massive heart attack. On his podcast after surgery, he said that his nutritionist had advised him that with a 100 percent blockage of the artery, it was “definitely time” for him to change his diet. He added, “[The doctors] were like, ‘you know, if you go plant-based you’ve got a really great chance of dropping your cholesterol.’”
Almost immediately, Smith decided to ditch meat, dairy, and eggs. He noted that for the first two weeks he ate “nothing but potatoes.” Following famed magician Penn Jillette’s diet, Smith focused on eating “sides,” like boiled or baked potatoes, slowly adding in more vegetables.
About a month after Smith went vegan, his doctor ran tests and remarked that the results looked “fantastic,” even deciding to lower the celeb’s Lipitor cholesterol medication because his levels had dropped so dramatically.
Eating animal products is linked to many health problems, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and an overall shorter life span. In fact, a study from the American Heart Association found that a plant-based diet is the best choice for reducing your risk of heart failure—regardless of whether you have a history of cardiac conditions.
Additionally, a recent study from Harvard Medical School found that at least one-third of early deaths could be prevented if everyone switched to a plant-based diet. What’s more, researchers at the Mayo Clinic reviewed multiple studies and found that compared to shorter-term vegetarians, people on a vegetarian diet for more than 17 years enjoyed an increase in life expectancy of 3.6 years.
But eating meat isn’t just harmful to our health; it’s literally killing our planet and causing unthinkable animal suffering.
From throwing chicks into macerators to tearing baby cows from their mothers, factory farmers routinely abuse animals. What’s worse, this systematic torture is actually legal. Fortunately, by going vegan you can easily withdraw your support from this inhumane industry.
By going vegan, celebrities are protecting animals, the planet, and their health. Join them and millions of others and switch to a compassionate vegan lifestyle. Click here to get started.
