Taraji P. Henson left no topic untouched in her deeply personal memoir.

The Empire star just published her first tell-all, Around the Way Girl, and in it she reflects on the ups and downs of living in the epicenter of Hollywood's limelight.

Throughout the 240-page read, released Oct. 11, Henson offers candid insight into a myriad of topics—including how much she earned (or didn't earn) while acting alongside Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which coveted role she lost to Naomi Wattsand how she convinced Idris Elba to star in No Good Deed.

Check out the seven most shocking revelations from Taraji's take on the entertainment industry below:

1. Henson was preparing to sell her belongings at a garage sale before landing an audition for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Then a relatively up-and-coming star on the scene, Taraji writes she was ready to give up on pursuing her dreams in 2006. "When my manager, Vince, called to tell me the director, David Fincher, wanted to meet, I wasn't really excited by the prospects of sitting in a cattle call of actresses scrapping for the job. Plus, the meeting fell on the day that I was hosting a garage sale at my place, and I was way more hustling to sell my gently worn dresses, stilettos and other personal goodies..." she recalls. As fate would have it, Henson landed her first major breakout role on the spot.

2. She earned a fraction of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's Benjamin Button paychecks: When cast as the adoptive mother of Pitt's character in the 2008 drama, the actress writes that despite being "listed as the third principal actor in the cast," Henson was paid "the equivalent of sofa change compared with what my co-stars received." In it Henson explains she expected to receive a salary "worthy of a solid up-and-coming actress with a decent amount of critical acclaim for her work," but instead was offered a number in the "lowest" of six-figures and had to front her own hotel expenses while filming.

3. Naomi Watts was offered a part initially written "specifically" for Taraji: In a chapter titled "On Being a Black Woman in Hollywood," Henson discloses a career-stalling incident in which she was forced to forgo her part as a pregnant stripper in 2014's St. Vincent to Watts. "Time and again, I've lost roles because someone with the ability to green-light a film couldn't see black women beyond a very limited purview he or she thought ‘fit' audience expectations," Henson writes. She continues, "It was a meaty gig. I would have loved it. Alas, I couldn't get served at that particular restaurant."

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