Actor Makes Shocking Claims About His Childhood

Terrence Howard just dropped a childhood confession so disturbing it’s hard to even process.

On the PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David, the Empire star said he was first pulled into sexual behavior when he was only four years old — and he claims it didn’t stop for nearly a decade.

“I was four,” Howard said, alleging it started with older neighborhood girls who were “six and seven.”

But it was what he claimed next that made the room go quiet.

Howard alleged the sexual behavior continued “every day until I was 13,” saying he had “more sex then than I’ve had in my adult life” — and that it warped his understanding of intimacy before he even had the maturity to understand what was happening.

Howard said those early experiences set the “expectation” for how he thought interactions were supposed to go, claiming it became his normal.

“I wish I had never done that,” he admitted, saying he believes he would have been “a completely different person” if it never happened.

He also claimed it left him thinking everyone lived that way.

“I kept thinking that everybody was promiscuous like that,” he said.

Howard suggested his home life may have played a role in how exposed he was to it all. He said his father had recently been released from jail and worked long hours, while his mother was attending school, leaving him unsupervised for long stretches.

He described the behavior as kids “fooling around,” recalling games where it turned into “pants up, pants down” situations — but he made it clear he now sees it as something much darker.

Howard said the more he reflects on it as an adult — especially as a father — the more horrifying it feels.

He said he looks at his sons now and can’t imagine them ever being put in a situation like that.

“I lost my innocence,” he said. “It’s effectively being molested.”

Howard says the trauma didn’t just fade — it followed him into adulthood and permanently changed how he thinks about safety.

He claimed he’s so protective now that when family friends visit with infants, he “secures the whole house” and even puts “pillows everywhere.”

And he says his children are never left alone.

“My kids are never alone,” he said, adding they’re never without at least two adults watching them — because he refuses to let history repeat itself.

Howard is a father of five and has been married four times to three different women. He shares sons Qirin and Hero with Mira Pak, and has three older children — Aubrey, Hunter, and Heaven — with his first wife, Lori McCommas.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, help is available. In the U.S., you can contact RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or use their online chat.