Jada Pinkett Smith recently explained why she believes she has taken so much blame from the public after husband Will Smith infamously slapped comedian Chris Rock onstage at the 2022 Oscars.
The “Red Table Talk” host told People magazine in an interview published Thursday that she thinks rumors that she was the reason Smith slapped Rock are “ridiculous.”
“But I understood it at the same time,” said the actor. “Given the false narrative that I cheated on Will or that I was like an adulteress, Will had never done this before.”
She added: “And I think if we just look at human nature… if you look at the breadcrumbs, people have to find someone to blame.”
“And since people didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes, I certainly wasn’t surprised that I was blamed,” she added.
Open Image ModalWill Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the 2022 Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via Associated Press
Pinkett Smith shocked the internet this week when it was revealed that she and Smith have been secretly separated since 2016.
She told NBC’s Hoda Kotb in a Wednesday clip of an NBC News primetime special that the two had led “very different lives.”
Fans of the couple were unaware of the two’s split when singer August Alsina revealed in a June 2020 interview that he was previously in a romantic relationship with Pinkett Smith.
The Girls Trip actress addressed the claim on an episode of Red Table Talk with Smith the following month. She confirmed that she had a relationship with the singer, which she infamously described as an “entanglement.”
The Smiths said in this episode that they were separated at the time of their union with Alsina. They also hinted that the King Richard actor may have had a few affairs.
However, many fans thought that the breakup was temporary, that they were back together when the “Red Table Talk” episode aired, and that they had been in a committed relationship ever since – until this week.
Pinkett Smith is reportedly revealing more details about her split from Smith and the Oscar slap in her new memoir, Worthy, due out October 17.
The “Emancipation” actor made countless headlines after storming the stage during the 2022 Academy Awards and slapping Rock after the comedian made a joke about Pinkett Smith over her shaved head. For years she has been open about her hair loss caused by alopecia.
Some on social media have blamed Pinkett Smith for her husband’s actions, even though Smith publicly stated that he made the decision to hit Rock based on his own “history” with the comedian.
“Jada had nothing to do with it,” he said in a video posted on YouTube after the incident last year.
Pinkett Smith told People in an interview published Wednesday that she didn’t know what happened when Smith slapped Rock at the Oscars and that she initially thought it was a skit.
“I thought, ‘There’s no way Will can beat him.’ It wasn’t until Will went back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”
The “Set It Off” actress also opened up about her own history with Rock, telling People that the comedian once asked her out in the summer of 2016 after rumors of her and Smith’s split began circulating.
She said he “apologized profusely” after she told him that all reports of their divorce were “just rumors.”