“I’m really shocked”: Jada Smith Slams Will Smith for Calling Her His ‘Wife’ at Oscars Before Slapping Chris Rock
The historic 2022 Academy Awards incident has once again captured the attention of the media and the general public as Jada Smith discloses facts of the evening in advance of the release of her biography Worthy on October 17, 2023.
Will Smith approached Chris Rock, who had gone on stage to deliver an award, and urged him to stop making jokes about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. Chris Rock responded by slapping the actor in front of the audience. Will Smith’s response was interpreted as being a response to Chris Rock making fun of his wife’s baldness. Jada Smith, though, was startled about something that happened that night. Let’s find out.
Jada Smith reveals Will Smith hadn’t called her ‘his wife’ in a long time
Ahead of the release of her memoir titled, Worthy, Jada Pinkett Smith revealed in an interview with Today’s Hoda Kotb for NBC that what shocked her the most was the fact that Will Smith called her his ‘wife’. She explained that after Will Smith gave a stern warning to Chris Rock, which was to “Keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth!” before he returned to his seat;
“Now, first of all, I’m really shocked because, mind you, I’m not there. We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time. I’m like, ‘What is going on right now?’”
She added that at the same time, she was really worried about Will because she could not register what was going on. She also revealed that Chris Rock had walked up to her and apologized for making a joke but she couldn’t take his apology.
The actress continued,
“Chris looks to me and he says, ‘Jada, I meant no harm’. Now, I’m just out of it because I’m really worried about Will. And Will’s still talking, because now he’s mad because Chris is talking to me. I go, ‘Chris, this is about some old s–t.’ That’s all I could think to say, right? And I couldn’t really take in his apology.”
She also mentioned that she and Chris Rock have not spoken since the Oscars 2022 but hoped everyone involved could find some peace.
Also read: Chris Rock Asked Jada Pinkett Smith Out Long Before Will Smith Slapped Him at Oscars
Jada Smith and Will Smith have been separated for seven years
In her conversation with Hoda Kotb via Today, the actress went on to reveal one shocking piece of information about her relationship with the King Richard actor, which is that they have been separated for seven years, but clarified that it is not a divorce on paper but they simply got exhausted with trying to make things work in 2016 and are now living separate lives.
The Red Table Talk host added, “Why did it fracture…that — that’s a lot of things … By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted from trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
Talking about their situation at the moment, she said during an interview,
“We’re still figuring it out. We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We have just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
Smith tells Kotb that she had made a promise that there would never be a reason for them to get a divorce and they will work through whatever the situation is, adding that she just hasn’t been able to break that promise.
Also read: How Did Will Smith’s Wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s Affair With August Alsina Start?
Jada Smith says she thought the 2022 Oscars incident was a ‘skit’
The actress who is gearing up for her book release mentioned that she did not know that whatever transpired on-stage that night was happening for real because she thought it was a skit. Jada explains in an interview with People,
“I thought, ‘This is a skit’. I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”
The first thing she said she asked Will Smith that night when they were alone was, was he okay? Will Smith resigned from the Academy following the incident and was later announced to be banned from all Academy events for a decade. He shared a video in which he apologized to everyone involved in the situation and said that he was going to do better.
She mentioned that she was going to be by his side but she was going to allow him to figure everything out himself. She also mentioned that her kids Jaden, Willow, and Trey(Will Smith shares him with ex-wife Sheree Zampino) are little gurus who have taught her a deep sense of self-acceptance and she is grateful to them. Will Smith has not yet responded to any of her statements.
Worthy, debuts on Tuesday, October 17.
