Terrence Howard Addresses Domestic Abuse Past At TV Conference, FOX CEO Claims: They Were Clueless To Howard's History Before 'Empire' Casting--Will Lee Daniels Recast? [DETAILS]

Empire star Terrence Howard is no stranger to headlines and rumors, especially when it comes to news of the spousal abuse of his second wife, Michelle Ghent, and his first wife, Lori McCommas. But are the allegations true?

MStars News previously reported that Howard and his ex-wife had some altercations, including a violent attack in Costa Rica, which resulted in Ghent receiving a restraining order against her Hollywood ex.

Now Howard is reliving some of his history after his abusive past was brought up at the Television Critics Association's winter press conference recently.

When TV critic Ellen Gray questioned the FOX team if there was any past history of domestic abuse, asking, "When you're doing casting, does this come up as part of the conversation?"

FOX CEO Dana Walden replied to the question, revealing that the company was clueless to allegations before Howard joined the series. Walden claims that Howard's history surfaced in December.

"I want to start by saying that we've been working with Terrence now for just about a year, and it's been a fantastic experience. He's a leader among that cast," Walden explained. "He's so professional. He's been so hardworking and he's just been a great partner to us. So our experience with Terrence has been excellent. We cast Terrence because our executive producers, Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, and Brian Grazer, felt that he was the best actor for that particular role. Our experience with him at that point was being fans of the films he's done in the past and it seemed like a little bit of a no-brainer. So with Terrence, we really didn't become aware of any of the situation you're talking about until December. It wasn't part of the conversation when we cast him."

A puzzled Gray asked Walden how was FOX not aware, when Howard has been in the news for years now.

"I can only tell you that that was when we were made aware of it," Walden responded. "And the allegations at this point, we do know about them, but we've also had now a good long chunk of time. Terrence was also on Wayward Pines. The network executives who interacted with him had nothing but a great experience. So, no, it just didn't come into the conversation."

Howard didn't speak during that conversation, but on a later panel he was able to chime in.

"A lot of things that I got involved with in younger days, in the earlier days, was the product of my environment, the product of not knowing how to deal with frustration, the product of not knowing who Terrence Howard is, you know," the actor said. "Now I'm married with a new wife, with a  brand new baby. I've grown so much from anything that's happened in the past. And this present moment, to have a show that's being that's being held as a beautiful breakthrough piece, having a wonderful opportunity to have this cast, I don't think they took any of that stuff into consideration. I think they looked at the talent and the power of right now and this moment and how people have grown and where they're going to, and I embrace that, and I'm so thankful to them for doing that."

According to Slate, director Lee Daniels and Taraji P. Henson, who plays Howard's wife, Cookie Lyon on the hit show, stood up for their friend and co-worker saying: "We are, Terrence."

Another reporter asked what would Howard say to the ones who criticize his actions?

Howard replied: "What you say is the only person that can really make the judgment, the final judgment, is the judge in the court, or God, at the end of the day. You leave it to them. So once you look at what the judges have said, there's been no criminal charges ever filed against that person or anything like that. So you have to go by what the judge is saying. If it's something valid, it's something valid. If it's not, it's not, but you've got to give people a chance to grow from anything that happens because, remember, Jesus was nailed to the stake on the allegations of him being a blasphemer. I don't think that was always true. So we've learned from that lesson. We slayed our Messiah under false accusations. We've got to give people a chance to show who they are."

Will Daniels have to go back in and rework his scripts to make Lucious Lyon die off quicker? Will he have to pull a Shonda Rhimes and kill off someone? Remember, after Columbus Short, who played Harrison Wright got in trouble with the law, Scandal had to change up some things.

But like Howard said, "no criminal charges" have ever been filed. So if the critics pull up Howard's past, are they going to pull up everyone who has an abusive past into the light as well when they have a new successful gig?

Sound off below!