Jada Pinkett Smith Opens Up About Her Kids, Her Body, And How She Fell In Love With Will
How do two volatile A-list celebs make a Hollywood marriage work?
In Hollywood, image is everything. Celebrities preen and pose for paparazzi, often masking their true selves under the glare of a thousand flash bulbs. But not Jada Pinkett Smith.
Sure, Jada's elegant and intelligent. But she also gets angry. And wild. And loud. For starters, the pint-sized actress fronted a metal (yes, metal) band, Wicked Wisdom, which even toured with Ozzfest.
And she has been known to do crazy things for love.
Pinket Smith even once jumped off a building in a show of affection for her husband, Will.
She initially made her name as an actress, appearing in 46 episodes of the iconic NBC series, A Different World, in the early 1990s followed by films like Set It Off (1996), Madagascar (2005), and Bad Moms (2016) and seems to have a talent for knowing where the next trend will happen.
She even had an intense friendship with late rapper Tupac Shakur, but according to Jada, they never made their relationship "physical". In a 2020 interview with Charlamagne Tha God, Will Smith opened up about his jealousy of the intense bond Jada and Tupac shared due to having attended Baltimore School of the Arts together as teens.
Together, Will and Jada have perservered and built a strong marriage that has withstood many tests. The couple even broke up in 2011 and got back together, building a relationship that was stronger than ever.
Jada is also a dedicated mother, having raised the three children she shares with Smith (Jaden, 21, Willow, 19, and stepson Trey, 27—whom she refers to as her "bonus son") and helped guide their careers.
These days Jada is mixing it up again, highlighting her natural honesty, candor and compassion while hosting Red Table Talk with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and her daughter, Willow.
Somehow still finds the time to give back. The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation (WJSFF) is a non-profit founded by the power couple with a mission to "improve lives and uplift humanity."
The organization also provides ongoing support to urban education programs, and their website exlplains, "Our vision is to create a world in which every person is inspired to bravely explore and discover their inner possibility."
In an exclusive interview with YourTango, Jada Pinkett Smith dishes to YourTango about her career, her body, and how she met and married her own Fresh Prince.
How did you and Will first meet?
I met him when I was 19 at an audition for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
After we had known each other for many years, we went out for dinner one night [with mutual friends] and I saw that he had grown from this lanky kid to this really responsible man. We started courting each other and our friendship turned into romance.
How was your first date?
He took me to Mexico!
What about your first kiss?
I think it was in Mexico. Will's the one who remembers that kind of stuff.
After nine years of marriage, how has your love for Will evolved?
The most important aspect of our relationship is that we continue to grow together—you have to be willing to take journeys with your partner. And even our relationship has gone through bad times. But if you can survive them, you'll have an even deeper connection.
What's more important, chemistry or friendship? You have to have both, without allowing one to get stronger than the other.
It's all about keeping that balance.
What do you put on when you want to feel extra sexy?
La Perla—almost every night. That's when I'm really feeling myself. [Laughs.] But that's usually something that only Will gets to see.
Is there one part of Will's body you just can't get enough of?
The little curve in his neck that goes into his shoulder—near his collarbone. And I just love his lower abdomen—when he's lying down with his arms outstretched and a little piece of his tummy is hanging out. I love that part.
And what part of your body does he adore?
That would be my breasts. [Laughs.] And he likes the curve from my torso to my hip.
In another life who would you have a major crush on?
Will and I both have our little Hollywood crushes. For me, it used to be The Rock, but I don't have any new ones. For Will, it was Salma Hayek and then Beyoncé for while.
Do you two ever talk about your on-screen love scenes?
Oh, yeah. Alicia [Alicia Braga, Smith's costar in the 2007 film I Am Legend] was the first person Will had kissed in a long time. He was like, "It was so weird. It's been 10 years since I kissed someone outside of you like that!"
But it's not bad at all. Trust me, I've kissed tons of guys on-screen!
So those love scenes that fool the rest of us don't affect you?
No. I wish Will would do more! People want to see that.
Has it become more difficult for you and Will to preserve the privacy of your relationship?
We're pretty private people. We do our best not to create too much scandal! I don't know how much longer that will last.
What's the craziest thing you've ever done for love?
I jumped off a roof into a pool while we were in Jamaica, not knowing I could have broken my neck!
I was very out of my mind, and Will was mad at me. He was sitting in a lounge chair when he saw me fall out of the sky screaming, "I love you, Will!"
He tried his best to stay mad but he couldn't. He cracked up.
Do you ever get mad at each other?
We learned very early in our relationship that we are two volatile people, and we could not argue like that. And now we've gotten past that point.
We disagree, but we don't argue.
You're the frontwoman for a metal band, Wicked Wisdom. What motivated you to pursue music?
I wanted a platform where I could express the other personality I have inside of me—the person who needs to be free and be angry and not be politically correct at all times. The one who can growl, scream, and jump around. One of my fans nicknamed me "the screaming banshee."
[The stage] is a complete freedom space where I don't have to be perfect. On the red carpet, there's this need for perfection.
Do you bring that part of you to your relationship with Will?
Absolutely. I had to acknowledge that aggression is not something to be ashamed of.
I also realized that trying to kill one aspect of your personality will kill the rest of you.
The Jada that Will met is the chick people see on stage with the band. The Jada you see on the red carpet is the person he helped me to become.
I don't think I'd be the woman I am today without his love and vision.
How have you helped shape Will?
I anchored his life in a way that allowed him to expand. I gave him the confidence to be what he always envisioned himself to be.
Will was also challenged by the idea of fatherhood... he was so young when he had Trey [with ex-wife, Sheree Zampino Fletcher]. I helped him see the strength and beauty in what he had to offer his children
Do you have a guilty pleasure love song?
Every single love song Prince has ever written! [Breaks into song.] There is not a song that that man has put out that I don't love.
Do you have a relationship role model?
Both sets of my grandparents. It seemed like they were married for hundreds of years!
That's been my staple data—when you get married, it's for life.
What do you do to be good to your body?
I really eat well; I try not to eat a lot of sugar. It's more for my mind than it is for vanity. I need to stay healthy because I'm always running.
Your body is your instrument to do everything, so you have to take care of it.
How do you pamper yourself?
Doing nothing is a complete luxury. It gives my body time to chill.
What is the biggest compliment Will has ever paid you?
He thinks that I'm one of the smartest people he's ever met. He's met a lot of people, and he's quite the intellectual, so that is a huge compliment.
This interview was originally conducted by YourTango in 2007.