Taraji P. Henson is so cool, it hurts. The Academy Award-nominated star of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button claims that being single mother of a teenage boy prepared her for the role of playing Brad Pitt’s mother. She and Pitt became close on the film set, so much so that Brad even asked Taraji to come over and meet the twins. Taraji had to beg off, because she’s so busy promoting Button.

Not to say that Taraji and Brad don’t hang out. Taraji tells USA Today about a time when several of her girlfriends came to town and wanted to meet Brad Pitt. So what did Taraji do? She called Brad up, of course. And he came! Taraji says Brad came over, hung out with her and her friends, and they all had a good time. She also says that Brad hung out with her teenage son, Marcel, and the two boys got along very well. Just another day in the life for Brad, the man Taraji calls “the best son a mother could want.” USA Today has more:

So let’s say Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie invite you over to meet their infant twins, Knox and Vivienne. It could well be the most coveted offer in Hollywood. And Taraji P. Henson knows it.

“I’ve been so busy and haven’t had the chance to do that yet,” says Henson, who plays Pitt’s adoptive mother in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

It has been a whirlwind few months for Henson, 38. Benjamin Button, a nearly three-hour saga about a man who ages backward and is raised by Henson’s character after she finds the geriatric newborn on her doorstep, has earned acclaim and nominations. All the attention Henson is getting as Queenie hasn’t gone to her head, says the gabby and self-deprecating actress.

“I’m still kind of numb. I’m waiting for someone to say, ‘Wake up!’ I’m just really excited about it, and trying to enjoy each and every moment,” she says. “But at the end of the day, I’m still TJ. That’s what my family used to call me, and they still do.”

“Besides, I haven’t gotten any calls from Spielberg yet. Or George Lucas. Still waiting.”

Henson got notice for playing a prostitute in 2005’s Hustle & Flow, but she was nowhere near a household name when director David Fincher had her read for the part of Queenie.

She knew Pitt was attached to play Button, so “I didn’t think I had a real shot. I thought they had an offer out to a big celebrity.”

But Fincher, who had seen Hustle, says that all along, “we wanted somebody who had unparalleled energy. Aside from energy, which is obvious in everything she has done, she’s compassionate. When she was done reprimanding this tiny old man, you could go, ‘She’s doing it out of love.’ If he’s believable as this tiny little gnome man and she’s believable as someone who cares about him, that’s all we would need.”

He has noticed how much she is enjoying her turn in the spotlight.

“I’ve never known Taraji to shy from attention,” Fincher says. “This kind of attention can be a soul-suck if you don’t have a lot to give, but she has so much to give. She’s not afraid of anything. She’s not a pushover.”

Acting alongside one of the most famous actors on the planet sure didn’t intimidate her. She jokingly calls Pitt “the best son a mother could want.” She met Jolie and most of their brood. And Pitt has hung out with her son, Marcel, 14. Her fellow nominee, she says, is “just a regular guy.”

“Three of my very best girlfriends flew into town and wanted to meet Brad Pitt. So I was like, ‘Brad, come over. My girlfriends are going crazy over you.’ He comes over, and he’s so cool. He has a way of being very warm and making people feel welcome.”

“I am a mom in real life,” she says. “Once a mom, always a mom. I try to mother my friends. It’s like riding a bike: You never forget how to be a mom.”

Marcel is the center of Henson’s world. The single mom drives him to basketball games and makes sure he has a full belly, always.

“My son gets breakfast every morning. I don’t buy cereal. Sometimes he wants scrambled eggs. Sometimes he’ll have bacon. Or pancakes. He gets home-cooked meals every day,” she says. “Even if I have a 5 a.m. call, I’ll cook and leave his food in the microwave before I leave. You expect a child to succeed and do well in school, but how are they going to do that if they have no brain food?”

From USA Today

Doesn’t Taraji sound like a really cool woman? Taraji’s son’s father was murdered more than a decade ago, and she seems to have made the best out a horrible situation. It’s got to be difficult to be a single, working mother in addition to an African-American actress trying to have a career in Hollywood. I hope she and Brad stay friends, and that he helps her in any way he can. It’s what good sons do!

Taraji Henson is shown at the NAACP Image Awards on 2/12/09. Credit: PRPhotos