Jada Pinkett-Smith was brought to tears in the latest episode of Red Table Talk, where she candidly discussed dealing with “a lot of stressful adult things at a young age,” and how her upbringing as a child led her to believe that showing emotion meant she was weak. A preview of Wednesday’s episode was posted to the official RTT page on Tuesday as the Matrix actress explained how being raised to simply “buck up” and get on with her problems later resulted in her struggle to deal with emotions stemming from the pressures of life.
Jada, who was joined by her daughter Willow Smith, mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and guest panelist Kelly McDaniel, admitted, “I had to deal with a lot of stressful, adult things at a young age. I didn’t have the ability to deal with the emotions that were coming with it. I just had to ‘buck up.’ And so those women you see that you think are so strong, there’s this terrified little girl underneath. And that’s me.”
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Her comments brought the room to complete silence as Jada broke down in tears, sparking a surge of sympathy from the women sitting at the table. “Oh mommy. I mean, this is why we do the work,” Willow said before Kelly chimed in, “It’s part of the journey.” The 50-year-old’s breakdown comes just weeks after her husband Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock across the face for making a joke about her buzzcut — a hairstyle that Jada has been wearing since being diagnosed with alopecia in 2018.
Chris had quipped that the mother-of-two, who was his co-star in the Madagascar film franchise, looked as if she was prepping to play Demi Moore’s character G.I Jane in a sequel of the 1997 action film of the same name, which prompted Will to hop onto the stage and confront the comedian on live television. After serving Chris with a slap, Will returned to his seating area and repeatedly yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth!”
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Meanwhile, last week saw the release of Will’s episode on David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. During the interview, the Philadelphia-born star detailed his experience with ayahuasca; a plant-based psychedelic e had taken 14 times over two years. On one occasion, however, he had endured a horrific experience after waiting 45 minutes for the herb to kick in — but when it did, Will vividly remembered having a vision of his career “going away.”
“So I’m drinking and sitting there and then all of a sudden it’s like I start seeing all of my money flying away, and my house is flying away and my career is going away. I’m like ‘argh’ and I’m trying to like grab for my money and my career. My whole life is getting destroyed.”
The episode will be available on Facebook Watch later today.