In the wake of the infamous slap incident at this past Oscars ceremony, one tweeter expressed this sentiment “I have gone from liking Will Smith to disliking him to just feeling sorry for him.” The reason for this change, at least for this individual, was evidence that Jada Pinkett was even less the “innocent” that she continues to pretend to be; in throwing her husband under the bus by claiming that he “overreacted,” this seems to be an odd response since she was seen laughing in approval at his behavior.
However, it appears that what really has people wondering about why Smith felt the need to do “something” so out of line was the surfacing of an old video which Pinkett posted on YouTube that suggested that she was a “psychological abuser.” Smith had apparently been forced to appear on her “Red Table Talk” show discussing his relationship with Pinkett as a form of public “therapy,” and these have been the subject of much embarrassment and ridicule for him. In one episode, Pinkett’s embarrasses Smith by admitting she has a “thing” about rappers, and because she believes in having an “open marriage,” admitted to have a lengthy extramarital affair with a rapper named August Alsina.
Her monumental self-obsessions was on display again in another episode when she accused Smith, knowing that Pinkett was having a “mid-life crisis,” decided to throw her a “lavish” 40th birthday party for what he said was an expression of his love; but this only angered her, embarrassing him in front of guests by accusing him of having an inflated “ego.” More likely Pinkett only saw this in her self-absorbed mind as not taking her pity-party self-obsessions “seriously” enough.
The video that has some people wondering who is the “real” villain in the slap caper—and the line I used before, saying that Smith would be “in for it” if he didn’t respond to the alleged “joke” in the “right” way, wasn’t exactly a throwaway one after all—shows Pinkett ambushing Smith while he is trying to relax at home, recording a video of him on her phone. She asks him if someone named “Esther”—a “relationship counselor” on the show—“has been instrumental in you and I redefining our relationship" which she expects Smith to accept, meaning an “open” marriage in which he shouldn’t have any complaints about her dalliances and having no say in it. This video was reportedly taken at the time Pinkett admitted her extramarital affair and viewed it by her definition of “marriage” without regard to Smith’s feelings about.
Smith was seen to be not in the mood to respond to the question or being videoed: "I would say: don't just start filming me without asking me if you can film me”:
The completely self-centered and thoughtless Pinkett says "Oh my goodness Esther, come help us again, please. I'm still dealing with foolishness." Oh, so he is supposed to tolerate his wife making a fool of him before millions of people admitting that he is “OK” with his wife cheating on him?
She goes on "Would you say that she helped us heal the hurts that we caused between one another?" Smith clearly thinks not since he probably believes that Pinkett has been causing all the “hurt” in their relationship: "My social media presence is my bread and butter, okay? So you can't just use me for social media and not, you know, don't just start rolling. I'm standing in my house. Don't just start rolling. Don't..." before walking away.
A story in Newsweek tells of how Pinkett felt “forced” into having a wedding by her mother, “Gammy.” On that “Red Table Talk”—why is it red for—to underline that fact that this is about what women want?—Pinkett announced that “I didn’t really want to get married” because she was “under so much pressure” being “young and pregnant,” but mostly because "I just never really agreed with the construct. I just don't agree with it. I never have, I still don't. Till death do us part is real for me. It's just all of the rules and ideas”—like, you know, being monogamous and respecting your partner’s privacy and not wanting to party all night long.
Newsweek goes on to report that their "wedding was horrible. It was a mess, Jada was sick, she was very unpleasant. When she was sick she didn't cooperate," and that she admitted that "I was so upset that I had to have a wedding. I was so pissed off. I went crying down the freakin' aisle. I cried the whole way." Before we dismiss this as “girl stuff,” let’s remember that Pinkett showed in the previously mentioned incidents that she has psychological issues that Smith and other observers have questioned why they are still married after nearly 25 years. One answer is that Pinkett found a spouse who plays by her rules, despite her complaints and in spite of his, and some comments she has made suggests that this is the case.
And about that hair loss issue, which is a problem that one-third of women of suffer from but nowhere near what men suffer from, Pinkett seems to be of two minds about it. But even without any medical reason for it, many women actually shave their heads as a “fashion" or "social" statement…
…and Pinkett (again on Red Table Talk) claimed that shaving her head “was a kind of expression and release” and that she was now “more connected to herself.” Whatever.
There are of course voices out there “outraged” by the suggestion that Smith only acted out of “fear” of his wife’s reaction to Chris Rock’s “joke” and that she is also a “villain” in this; remember all he said was “Jada, I luv ya—can’t want to see G.I Jane 2.” Since Rock is a comic, we are supposed to assume that was a “joke”? Why “assume” he was cracking a joke about her lack of hair? Well, those who have nothing better to do with their lives than check out Pinkett’s social media posts are aware that she has made her hair issues an “issue” despite the fact that no one really cares—or hell, knows—except her and the fan-natics and gender watchdogs.
Of course this is not a defense of Smith’s action (and I still don’t like him for other reasons), but he should have been “adult” enough not to “defend” the “honor” of someone who he knows is only committed to herself. As some have pointed out, he should have let her “handle” the alleged “slight” in the usual way that women handle real or (mostly) perceived slights like this one; but then again, it would come around to what did Rock actually say that would be so “upsetting” to anyone except in Pinkett’s own mind (remember that Smith’s initial reaction indicated that he didn’t know what the “joke” was—before Pinkett started glaring at him). As it turned out, Pinkett got the best of both worlds: her conceit was defended, and someone else could take the blame for it if it went wrong, and Smith has been banned from Academy-related functions for 10 years.
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