Tyrese Gibson Opens Up About His ‘Love’ For Taraji P. Henson

Tyrese Gibson has nothing but love for Taraji P. Henson even after 14 years since their breakout hit "Baby Boy."

"That's my baby. We always get together for lunches and dinners and connect," he told the New York Daily News on Wednesday. "I'm always at her house, she's at my house. It's love. I'm very, very honored to tell the world we're still family and we still connected and hang out beyond that 'Baby Boy' set."

Gibson was a fresh faced 22-year-old in the John Singleton-directed cult classic, which is the focus of TV One's "Unsung Hollywood," airing Wednesday, when he met Henson, who played his girlfriend, Evette. Although their on-screen romance was toxic, he equates their affections to Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' chemistry in "The Notebook."

"Everybody loves that movie. It's one of my top five romantic movies of all time," the 36-year-old actor revealed.

"Everybody just wants them to be together (in real life)," Gibson continued. "I mean, Ryan ain't doing bad with Eva on any level. He definitely got good taste in women, so shout out to him for that. But everybody wants Ryan to be with Rachel because we really enjoyed that movie. So it's the same with Jody and Evette."

Tyrese Gibson has nothing but love for Taraji P. Henson even after 14 years since their breakout hit "Baby Boy."

"That's my baby. We always get together for lunches and dinners and connect," he told the New York Daily News on Wednesday. "I'm always at her house, she's at my house. It's love. I'm very, very honored to tell the world we're still family and we still connected and hang out beyond that 'Baby Boy' set."

Gibson was a fresh faced 22-year-old in the John Singleton-directed cult classic, which is the focus of TV One's "Unsung Hollywood," airing Wednesday, when he met Henson, who played his girlfriend, Evette. Although their on-screen romance was toxic, he equates their affections to Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' chemistry in "The Notebook."

"Everybody loves that movie. It's one of my top five romantic movies of all time," the 36-year-old actor revealed.

"Everybody just wants them to be together (in real life)," Gibson continued. "I mean, Ryan ain't doing bad with Eva on any level. He definitely got good taste in women, so shout out to him for that. But everybody wants Ryan to be with Rachel because we really enjoyed that movie. So it's the same with Jody and Evette."

Beyond the fans wanting more, Gibson may have toyed with the idea then and even now.

"We're never dated. We never took it to that level. I mean, we've kissed but that's about it," he said of his personal relationship with Henson.

"It wasn't like tongue. We kiss each other on the lips when we see each other. It's love," he explained, adding, "But I don't look at her like a sister. I don't look at her like somebody I wouldn't date. We just haven't dated. I'm just letting you know, Taraji is not in the friends zone."

Outside of what may or may not be an attraction between the two, both stars' careers have climbed the ladder to success substantially since that 2001 film. Henson currently stars as Cookie Lyon on the hit Fox series "Empire," and Gibson couldn't be happier for her and the show's success.

"There's no one in the entire world that's happier than me about the success of 'Empire' and the star power level that Taraji is poppin'," the "Furious 7" star said.

"None of us who knows her is shocked or surprised by that," he added. "Everybody is looking at her like she's powerful. We're like, 'Tell us some s--t we don't already know.' (They say) she got that swag and she got that vibe and she's just a boss … tell us something we don't already know."

While Gibson is quick to dish out compliments to Henson, there's another girl in his life that's No. 1 above all else — his 7-year-old daughter, Shayla, with his ex-wife, Norma.

The relationship with her mother isn't exactly cordial, so Gibson was pleased to reveal he "just landed 50-50 joint and legal custody" of Shayla.

In his busy life, acquiring partial custody means he has to give up something else in order to focus on his child. Fans may be surprised to learn it's his music.

"This is going to be my last solo album," he told The News about "Black Rose," which drops July 7. "I hate to disappoint my fans, but daddy duties is real for me on a very personal level."

Gibson wanted to go out with a musical bang, so he rented a mansion in Arizona for 34 days and hosted what he called an "R&B boot camp."

Out of 146 songs recorded with 19 singers, songwriters, producers and musicians residing in the mansion for the month, Tyrese chose the cream of the crop to appear on the double album, which also includes a physical, digital, and audio book, as well as a short film that he intends to put in the festival circuit.

"The song called 'Shame' is featuring Jennifer Hudson and we actually shot a musical short film," Gibson said about the period piece set in 1958. "I'm this dysfunctional, abusive husband, who uses cocaine and drugs and alcohol. We got two kids. Jennifer is my wife and it's one of the most uncomfortable movies me and her have ever shot."

But nothing about this final album has been comfortable for Gibson, especially with the first single "Dumb S--t" featuring Snoop Dogg.

"This is my confessions album where I'm just coming clean even if it embarrasses me," he said. "I'm just putting it all out there.

"I was in a relationship for five years, I got caught out there doing some dumb s--t and I wrote a song about it featuring Snoop, who also talks about the dumb s--t he got caught doing," Gibson added.

Interestingly enough, while Wiz Khalifa has blatantly denied ever cheating on Amber Rose, he must have done some dumb s--t of his own because he appears in Gibson's music video for just that reason.

"Wiz Khalifa is in the video because of the dumb s--t he got caught doing," Gibson said. "It's a spring anthem right now and we're having fun with it."

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