Jada Pinkett Smith Recalled Being Blamed For Will Smith’s Oscars Slap And Seen As An “Adulteress” After Revealing That The Pair Were Actually Quietly Separated At The Time
“Considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was some adulteress...when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame,” Jada said.
To quickly recap what happened, Will walked onstage at last year’s awards show and struck host Chris Rock across the face after he made a joke about Jada’s bald head. The comedian, who reportedly had “no idea” that Jada has alopecia, told Will and the other audience members that it was just a “G.I. Jane joke,” to which Will yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth.”
Several people have long accused Jada of being the one to tell Will to slap Chris, given that she was filmed rolling her eyes at Chris’s comment, while Will initially seemed to laugh. However, Will spoke out in defense of Jada last year and stated that she had “nothing to do” with his decision. Instead, he said his decision to slap Chris was based on his personal “experiences” and “history” with him.
Fast-forward to this month, and Jada is looking back on the night of the 2022 Oscars in detail ahead of the release of her tell-all memoir, Worthy.
Sitting down with People magazine this week, Jada admitted that she thought Will slapping Chris was a “skit,” and didn’t realize that it was in fact very real until “Will started to walk back to his chair.”
Jada also said that she was confused about why Will was “so upset,” given that — as she recently shockingly revealed — they weren’t actually together at the time, and haven’t been for the past seven years.
Jada revealed during a bombshell interview that she and Will, who tied the knot in 1997 and share two kids, have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016. Jada added that the pair had gotten “exhausted with trying” to fix their marriage, which she said had been “fractured” by “a lot of things.”
While the pair were secretly separated, they found themselves at the center of infidelity rumors time and again, including when Jada had an "entanglement" with singer August Alsina.
With all this in mind, Jada is now reflecting on what it was like being “blamed” for Will’s Oscars slap.
Speaking with People, Jada said that while she found it “ridiculous” that she was accused of being the one to tell Will to slap Chris, she also “wasn’t surprised.”
“It was ridiculous how far it went,” she said. “But I also understood at the same time, considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was some adulteress. Will had never done that before.”
“I think that when we just look at human nature...when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame,” she went on.
“And so people not knowing what was happening behind the scenes, I surely wasn't surprised that I got blamed,” she added. “But I understood that that's just the human nature of it all.”
Jada’s memoir, Worthy, will be released next week on Oct. 17.
