Hollywood Actor & Father Terrence Howard Talks About Finally Finding Peace in his Third Marriage

48-year-old Empire star, Terrence Howard, who is featured in the current issue of PEOPLE, talks about how he has found peace after two messy divorces.

Terrence is a typical example of your childhood years coming back to haunt you, or the tendencies of some things you fear, actually manifesting itself in you in adulthood. He was physically abused by his father from the age of two. He told people that he saw his father, Tyrone, fatally stab a man while their families waited in line to see Santa Claus at a mall in Cleveland. His mother divorced Tyrone after he spent 11 months in prison, but he continued to be a fearful factor in all their lives. Terrance says he was beaten everyday by his father till he was 14. He grew up poor with his 3 brothers and his mother, and eventually became violent in his first marriage. In 2001 he admitted to hitting his first wife, Lori, and in 2013, he also admitted to beating his second wife Michelle Ghent.

The father of 5, reveals that after he met his 3rd wife, Mira, she has helped him balance out his mind and deal with who he was, and is helping him to be a better man.

“I was raised believing the man is in charge, but I’ve realized marriage should be an equal partnership,” says the actor.

He says he has learnt to keep his stress level under check and looks to nature to fulfill that.

“I’ll just watch a tree’s limbs sway back and forth or take my shoes off and put my hands on a tree,” he says. “It makes me feel part of the whole.”

Terrence and Mira have two sons Qirin, 22 months, and Hero, 7 months .