“As Black women we identify so much of ourselves with our hair”: Jada Pinkett Smith Calls Letting Her Hair Grow Scary After Chris Rock Mocked Her Bald Look
Undoubtedly hair is an important part of a person’s identity. And losing it to health issues is an unfortunate experience. Jada Pinkett Smith who suffers from Alopecia recently discussed her condition and how it affects her, especially because she is a black woman. The disease made her lose all her hair and the actress had to adjust to being bald suddenly. In a recent interview, she talked about various topics including being black in the industry. She opened up about how she learned to navigate in a place where her race seemed to be looked on in a negative light. The interview comes months after her husband Will Smith’s Oscar slap incident.
Jada Pinkett Smith Talks About Alopecia and Being Black in the Industry
By now people are aware that Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness is not by choice but due to Alopecia. It is an autoimmune disease that affects a person’s hair growth and they start losing it gradually in patches. And according to Smith, being a black woman in a white-dominated industry, her hair had been an important part of her identity. Therefore it helped bring unity among black women. Discussing the same topic the Girls Trip actor recently opened up about navigating the industry with her identity. Moreover, in a recent interview with the Guardian, she also discussed how she dealt with her hair condition. Smith said,
“It’s been a hard one, a scary one – because specifically as Black women, we identify so much of ourselves with our hair.”
The actor opened up about letting go of the connection she had with her hair. And also “digging deeper” to find her beauty despite the hair loss. This interview comes months after Chris Rock mocked her baldness in the Oscar. And as everyone would know, it resulted in the infamous Will Smith-Chris Rock Oscar slap incident.
Furthermore, the mother of two also touched upon the subject of her “blackness”. Smith shared how she had to learn to not take things personally regarding her race. She also mentioned the lack of more black people in the industry. Smith’s new Netflix docuseries African Queens will touch on the same topic more or less.
The 2022 Oscar Slap Incident
A year ago (2022) at the Oscar award ceremony an infamous incident took place which surely many are aware of. Chris Rock had been hosting the show. But at one point, he made a comment on Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness. She attended the award show with her husband Will Smith. The remark was surely insensitive considering the actress suffers from Alopecia. So, visibly upset, the After Earth actor did not take the joke nicely. He went up to the stage and ended up slapping Rock. However, The Suicide Squad star has publicly and directly apologized to Rock for the incident since then.
Also Read: Why Grammys 2023 Dropped Will Smith Performance?
Source: The Guardian
