'I slapped her in front of the kids': Terrence Howard admits he hit first wife and got physical with his second... but Empire creator Lee Daniels says he's no 'different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn'
- The Empire star claimed he 'slapped' not 'punched' his first wife
- Said he acted in self defense when he assaulted his second wife
- Daniels said the actor was being judged harshly because he is African-America
Terrence Howard has been dogged by accusations of violence towards women and now the Empire star has acknowledged he did put his hands on two of this three wives.
The actor, 46, made the confession in a bizarre interview with Rolling Stone magazine in which he said he 'slapped' not 'punched' his first wife and was acting in self-defense when he beat on his second.
Empire co-creator Lee Daniels has defended his star calling him 'that poor boy' and telling The Hollywood Reporter that Howard 'ain't done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of a sudden he's some f***in' demon.'
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Like Brando or Penn: Terrence Howard, pictured in Monaco in June, has admitted he laid hands on two of his three wives after years of being dogged with accusations of domestic abuse and violent outbursts
Daniels, who directed the films Precious and The Butler, claimed that Howard was being judged more harshly on the domestic abuse allegations because he is African-American.
'That's a sign of the time, of race, of where we are right now in America,' Daniels said.
Howard's first wife Lori McCommas, the mother of three of his children, claimed the Hustle & Flow star 'punched her twice with a closed fist' in a 2001 incident, according to a police report.
Director Lee Daniels, co-creator of Empire, has defended his star, saying Howard has 'ain't done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of a sudden he's some f***in' demon.'
Victim: Howard's first wife Lori McCommas told police in 2001 the actor punched her twice 'with a closed fist.' Howard said he 'lost my mind and slapped her' in front of their kids because 'she was talking to me real strong'
The couple, who wed in 1989, divorced in 2003, remarried in 2005 and divorced again in 2007 after which it was revealed the actor had pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct as a result of the 2001 altercation.
He explained in his interview with Rolling Stone that McCommas had provoked him.
'She was talking to me real strong, and I lost my mind and slapped her in front of the kids,' he said.
'Her lawyer said it was a closed fist, but even slapping her was wrong.'
Black eye: Second wife Michelle Ghent alleged Howard had struck her and tried to strangle her in 2013 while in Costa Rica. He told Rolling Stone he acted in self-defense after she Maced him and hadn't meant to hit her
His second wife Michelle Ghent won a restraining order against him after claiming he had been physically abusive towards her as well as threatening and staling her.
In 2013, after rekindling their relationship, Ghent claimed he'd struck her, giving her a black eye, and tried to strangle her while they were vacationing in Costa Rica.
'She was trying to Mace me,' he told Rolling Stone when asked about it.
'You can't see anything so all you can do is try to bat somebody away, and I think that something caught her. But I wasn't trying to hit her,' he claimed.
Just last month, a judge ruled that Howard's alimony payments to Ghent would now be reduced after it was revealed she had blackmailed the actor.
Third wife: Howard and Mira Pak, pictured in January, welcomed son Qirin in May. They still live together even though they divorced in July
Offspring: Howard shared this snap of himself with his newborn son in June. The actor described to Rolling Stone how, when he was two years old, he watched his father knife a man to death while waiting in line to see Santa Claus
A former girlfriend May Seng Yang wrote in a statement to police that Howard choked her and punched her in the eye before throwing her to the ground in 2012 after she accused him of giving her herpes.
The actor reciprocated by filing assault charges against Yang and they both eventually dropped their cases, settling the matter in civil court.
It's not just the women in his life who have been on the receiving end of his temper.
In 2005, he once again pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after knocking a man to the ground and hitting a woman after they got into an argument at a restaurant.
Howard was accused of trying to cut the line in front of the pair, sparking the confrontation.
He said he wasn't even in the line and had simply gone to ask about the wait time for a table and that he had acted in self-defense.
In 2000, a Continental Airlines flight attendant claimed the Crash star had assaulted her. The charges were eventually dropped.
But pubic opinion about his violent run-ins also, it seems, led him to accept his current critically-acclaimed role as Lucious Lyon in the Fox TV series Empire.
He told Rolling Stone simply: 'Since they see me as a bad guy, I'm gonna play a bad guy.'
Back in the game: Howard's role as Lucious Lyon on Empire has revitalized his career. He's seen in a publicity shot for the Fox TV series with co-stars Bryshere Gray, Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett and Taraji P. Henson
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