LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress and talk show host Jada Pinkett Smith set the internet ablaze again, this time by revealing details about her formative years in Baltimore.
In an exclusive interview with People magazine promoting her upcoming memoir ‘Worthy’, the actress spoke about being a drug dealer in her teens selling crack cocaine.
Jada said that growing up, her parents were drug addicts, which was why she had to strive for financial freedom from the age of 12, working “legit jobs” including as a telemarketer and at The Gap store.
“When you aren't the priority of your parents, you don't know how to be a priority to yourself. I had parents who were addicted to drugs,” she shared.
Jada wholeheartedly admitted, “Not having a healthy foundation, as I would come to find out way into my adulthood, had some really strong effects in regard to how I saw myself."
Why did Jada Pinkett Smith sell drugs?
“Growing up, the drug dealers were the ones that had affluence, that’s what we readily saw as success. And so for me, considering my circumstances at the time, my mother was not doing well. She was a high-functioning heroin addict. We didn't have the things that we should have. The home we lived in was not taken care of,” Jada revealed.
Her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, who subsequently became sober to heal her relationship with her daughter and appeared on the set of Jada's show 'Red Table Talk'.
Her father, Robsol Pinkett Jr was also a negligent and absent parent, being in her life on and off through the course of her childhood, and having violent tendencies. He died in 2010.
Jada, now 52, told People that her guiding light was her late grandmother Marion Banfield. “My grandmother thought that it was very important that I be able to relate to anyone, and she felt as though I needed to be well-rounded in order to do that, so whether it was through reading books or hobbies, understanding different kinds of religion, she wanted me to always have an entry point to be able to have a common ground with another person.”
Internet reacts to Jada Pinkett Smith's revelation
Netizens weren’t impressed with the actress’s tale about a rough childhood. They took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their exhaustion.
One user wrote, "Girl please….we are TIRED."
Another replied, "We really don't care."
An X user stated, "Why do we need to know this? jada is such an attention seeker."
Another said, "We are so tired of being her therapist. baby talk to a shrink."
Someone else said snarkily, "Literally saying anything and everything just to stay relevant…."
A user with username @insidverse stated, "Jada causally unlocking unwanted lore, revealing stuff no body cares about and embarrassing will smith like he has a humiliation kink."
Another user gave a visual description of what users on X thought about her recent comments and said: "ENOUGH !!"
One more user noted, "I have never been a big Jada fan and all of this mess has just proved me right."
One user called her out by saying, "She’s promoting her book you guys. And many people are going to purchase it."
Another X user quipped, "I haven’t read the book but I’m exhausted. I can’t handle anymore revelations"
Apart from opening up about her mental health struggles and difficult childhood, Jada's memoir 'Worthy', which releases next week, gives fans an insight into her personal life with Will Smith and the infamous slap to Chris Rock on the stage of the 2022 Oscars.
