Jada Pinkett Smith has announced the upcoming release of her new memoir Worthy, which explores her “controversial Hollywood life” after years of scandal in her private life.
The 51-year-old actress – whose 26-year marriage to Will Smith was rocked in 2020 when her four-year affair with 30-year-old toyboy August Alsina was revealed – expressed her desire to “take back her own narrative” as she did so Cover of the memoir showed on Instagram this week.
She wrote, “On October 17, I invite you on a journey that many understandably think they already know.”
“The fact that I have helped create and perpetuate untruths about myself over the past four years in which other untrue narratives have emerged has certainly contributed to the misconceptions that surround me.”
“This fall, with deep humility and respect, I will take back my narrative.” Beginning at the beginning, my memoir offers a candid and insightful account of my troubled childhood in Baltimore to a controversial life in Hollywood.
Must read: Jada Pinkett Smith has announced the upcoming release of her new memoir Worthy, which explores her “controversial life in Hollywood” after years of scandal in her private life
“Regaining my self-esteem while uncovering unspoken truths is a harrowing ride.”
“My youthful adventures, meaningful friendships, marriage, motherhood, self-betrayal and self-recovery are mere reflections of the adventures so many of us have taken in search of happiness.”
“My hope is that through exploring my own tumultuous situations and rediscovering deep love, we will all be reminded that we are all…worthy, no matter where we are in our journey.”
Pinkett Smith’s marriage to Oscar-winner Smith has been in the spotlight in recent years – culminating in a moment of shock when the two appeared on her show Red Table Talk to discuss their affair and open relationship in 2020.
Pinkett Smith famously described the year-long affair with 29-year-old R&B singer Alsina as an “entanglement.”
It was also reported that August was only 23 years old when he first met Jada.
In 2021, Will confirmed that he and Jada have an open relationship and admitted that she “never believed in conventional marriage” while promoting his own memoir.
Speaking on Red Table Talk, she began explaining that the couple met August through their 24-year-old son, Jaden, and recalled that the then 23-year-old singer was “really ill” (as he was battling a genetic liver disease).
Coming soon: The 51-year-old actress – whose 26-year marriage to Will Smith was rocked in 2020 when her four-year affair with 30-year-old toyboy August Alsina was exposed – expressed on her show her desire to “create her own narrative.” to take back”. The cover of the memoir this week on Instagram
Personal in 2020: The actress caught up with her husband for an intimate chat on their Facebook show Red Table Talk, where she revealed how the relationship came about
Affair: Pinkett Smith famously described the years-long affair with 29-year-old R&B singer Alsina as an “entanglement” (pictured above in 2017)
Jada said, “And it all started with him just needing some help and I wanted to help with his health and mental state.”
“Our family initially spoke out for his health,” she said. “We found all these different resources that helped him get through it and from there you and I went through a very difficult time.”
After Jada’s confession, Will admitted, “I was done with you,” while Jada added that they had decided to break up “for a period of time.”
“And what did you do then, Jada?” Will asked, urging his wife to keep talking.
“Over time, I got into a different kind of involvement with August,” Jada explained.
The mother-of-two further responded to August’s claim that Will gave her “permission” to have an affair.
When Will urged Jada to clarify what she meant by “entanglement,” she replied, “It was absolutely a relationship.”
Jada continued, “I was in a lot of pain and very broken.” As this relationship progressed, I definitely realized that happiness can’t be found outside of yourself.”
She denied August’s claim that Will gave his blessing to the affair, claiming they were separated at the time.
The slap: Smith stormed the stage at the 94th Academy Awards and attacked comedian Chris Rock, who had just mocked his wife Jada in 2022
The affair rocked the world and many turned to Will to see how the movie star would react.
Curiously, Jada initially dismissed August’s claims that it was an item, before finally admitting that “it needs some healing…so I’m bringing myself to the red table.”
The Girls Trip actress used a similar “healing” phrase when she broke her silence on Will slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Smith slapped the comedian in the face after he joked about his wife’s hair loss. Pinkett Smith has been open about her battle with alopecia, a condition that often causes bald spots.
Despite laughing about the incident and partying all night at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party, Jada posted the following day, “This is a healing time and I’m here for it.”
Meanwhile, it has been previously reported that Jada “wishes” Will “didn’t get into a physical altercation” with Chris, but isn’t “mad” at her husband.
Speaking to Us Weekly, an unnamed insider said, “It was in the heat of the moment and he overreacted.”
“He knows that, she knows that.” “They agree he overreacted.”
They also claimed Pinkett Smith was “not a wallflower” or “that woman who needs protection.”
“He didn’t have to do what he did,” they added.
The US Weekly source also said the couple are “very protective in their own lives and are doing their best to protect loved ones.”
Recently, Pinkett Smith came to the fore when her son Jaden revealed that his mother introduced her entire family to psychedelic drugs.
Wow: Recently, Pinkett Smith came under further scrutiny when her son Jaden revealed that his mother introduced her entire family to psychedelic drugs (Smith is seen in 2022 with daughter Willow, 22, Jaden and Will’s son Trey, 30 )
Speaking at the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver this week, the actor gushed about how using psychedelics has improved his relationships with loved ones and increased his empathy for others.
“I think it was actually my mother who was the first to take that step for the family,” he revealed. “For a very, very long time it was just her, and then at some point it evolved and everyone found it in their own way.”
Jaden went on to claim that psychedelics have had a “profound” impact on his relationship with his sister Willow Smith, 22, and half-brother Trey Smith, 30, which his father Will shares with ex-wife Sheree Zampino.
“Siblings can argue so much and fight so much, and God knows me and my siblings have done so much of it in the past,” the ‘Entergalactic’ star said, according to USA Today.
He continued, “But the level of love and empathy I can feel for them within the (psychedelic) experiences and outside of the experiences is something profound and beautiful.”
Jaden explained that psychedelics help him and his relatives “open up” their minds and “get out of the old ways of thinking that got us caught up in a lot of these arguments and open them up so they just let go and make room for work.” .” out of.’
Jaden has not disclosed what type of psychedelics his family uses, but did discuss using magic mushrooms last year.
“I think mushrooms will help us expand our consciousness.” “The collection isn’t just about clothes for sale,” he told Mr Porter Journal in 2022.
He added, “It’s full of spiritual experiences and mystical states.” “We just make clothes that can travel with people.”
In 2019, Jada revealed she had used the drug ecstasy to battle depression.
“When I was depressed, I was on ecstasy, drinking a lot, you know, and smoking a lot of weed and just trying to get some quiet in my mind.” It’s like I know [what] “I did — I did ecstasy because I wanted to party,” she said during an episode of Red Table Talk.
The Gotham actress said other substances were at play during the tumultuous period of her life.
“I took ecstasy, weed and a bottle of Courvoisier because I wanted to set myself on fire,” Jada said. “I didn’t make the connection, and I knew … I knew I was on the road to addiction.” I made it very clear.’
Jada said she also struggled with a nervous breakdown and suicidal thoughts in the early days of her career.
“I had arrived in LA and had some success and realized that wasn’t the answer — it wasn’t what would fix everything,” she said, adding that the success was “actually done.” [things] worse.
Her best-known role to date is as the human rebel Niobe in the films The Matrix Reloaded (pictured in 2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), sequels to 1999’s The Matrix
“I was extremely suicidal, I had a complete emotional breakdown.”
Jada said at the time she felt “completely out of control,” adding, “I don’t even think I understood at that point what I was going through.”
“I was severely depressed, severely. And that was something I struggled with for years. “Waking up in the morning was like the worst part of the day,” the star recalls.
Two years ago, Jada opened up about being a heavy drinker and drinking wine “like Kool-Aid” on her Facebook Watch series.
“I drank a lot of brown alcohol – rum – and also vodka.” I was a heavy drinker. “I could drink almost anyone under the table,” said the Girls Trip actress.
Pinkett Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland to parents Adrienne Banfield-Norris, a registered nurse, and Robsol Pinkett Jr., who ran a construction company.
Pinkett attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, where she met and became close friends with her classmate, rapper Tupac Shakur. Pinkett was a drug dealer at the time and her mother was a heroin addict.
After graduating, she spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts.
She began her acting career in 1990 with an appearance on True Colors, followed by guest roles on Doogie Howser, MD (1991), 21 Jump Street (1991) and Bill Cosby’s NBC television sitcom A Different World in 1991.
Film roles in A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) and Demon Knight (1995) followed.
Her big screen break came in 1996 in The Nutty Professor opposite Eddie Murphy. She also had a starring role in Set It Off (1996), a crime drama about four women who rob banks to escape poverty, opposite Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise.
In 1997, Pinkett had a cameo role in Scream 2 as a college student who is brutally murdered in front of hundreds of moviegoers.
Her best-known role to date is as the human rebel Niobe in the films The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), sequels to 1999’s The Matrix.
She starred in Collateral in 2004 alongside Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise.
She met Smith on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1994 when she was auditioning unsuccessfully for the role of his character’s girlfriend, Lisa Wilkes
Will and Jada later began dating after he split from Sheree Fletcher, the mother of his son Trey.