On a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, actor Michael Ealy revealed how real his former co-star and homie, Taraji P. Henson, told him he didn’t smell so fresh and clean while they were shooting a scene.
On October 26, he recounted the incident that happened as they shot Think Like A Man Too. Ealy let Clarkson and the audience know that he and Henson were from the same place– Washington, D.C., and he loved her “immensely.”
“So Taraji, who I love immensely; we’re from the same hometown,” the 49-year-old actor began. “One of the coolest people you ever meet and the most talented people you will ever meet. We are doing a scene in Think Like a Man Too, and I just had a kid. I didn’t get a chance to really, like, work out or prepare for this role and stuff.”
Ealy explained that fatherly duties had prevented him from getting his body right for the hit sequel, so he used a trick that many actors did when trying to look their best on camera.
“Right before this scene where I’m like shirtless in the bed with her and stuff like that– I did about 250 pushups, right?”
Clarkson interjected, thinking that the slim and trim actor had knocked 250 pushups in one shot.
“Not in a row–in about 20 to 25 minutes while they are setting up the shot. Like I said, I was just working my ass off to try and to pump up the muscles, get the blood flow going. That’s a trick. That’s what everybody does. I was glistening, and I’m laying down with her. And we were in between takes, and she’s like kind of like in here because I’m kind of on top of her.”
Ealy then revealed the moment that Henson told him that he was “ripe.”
“We’re just sitting there in between the take, and she says to me, she goes, ‘Hmmm, you kind of ripe.’ She was like, ‘Michael Ealy is not perfect.’”
He continued, laughing. “And I was like, ‘Taraji; you saw me doing the pushups. Come on. You know what I’m going through.’”
Ealy didn’t comment as to whether or not he freshened up.
