Jada Pinkett Smith recently explained why she believes she took so much blame from the public after husband Will Smith infamously slapped comedian Chris Rock onstage at the 2022 Oscars.
The “Red Table Talk” host told People magazine in an interview published on Thursday that she thought that rumors suggesting she was the reason why Smith slapped Rock were “ridiculous.”
“But I also understood at the same time,” the actor said. “Considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was like some adulteress, Will had never done that before.”
She added, “And I think that when we just look at human nature… when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame.”
“And so people not knowing what was happening behind the scenes, I surely wasn’t surprised that I got blamed,” she added.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via Associated Press
Pinkett Smith shocked the internet this week when it was revealed that she and Smith have been secretly separated since 2016.
She told NBC’s Hoda Kotb in a Wednesday clip of an NBC News prime-time special that the two have been living “completely several lives.”
Fans of the couple were not aware that the two were separated when singer August Alsina revealed in a June 2020 interview that he had previously been in a romantic relationship with Pinkett Smith.
The “Girls Trip” actor addressed the claim on an episode of “Red Table Talk” with Smith the following month. She confirmed she’d had a relationship with the singer, which she infamously called an “entanglement.”
The Smiths said on that episode that they were separated at the time of her connection with Alsina. They also hinted that the “King Richard” actor might have had his own share of dalliances.
But many fans thought their separation was temporary, that they were back together when that “Red Table Talk” episode aired and that they’ve been in a committed relationship since — until this week.
Pinkett Smith reportedly shares more details about her separation from Smith and the Oscars slap in her new memoir, “Worthy,” due out on Oct. 17.
The “Emancipation” actor spurred countless headlines after he charged the stage and slapped Rock during the 2022 Oscars after the comedian made a joke about Pinkett Smith over her shaved head. She has been open about dealing with her hair loss for years, caused by alopecia.
Some on social media have blamed Pinkett Smith for her husband’s actions, even though Smith publicly stated that he made the decision to hit Rock based on his own “history” with the comedian.
“Jada had nothing to do with it,” he said in a video published on YouTube after the incident last year.
Pinkett Smith told People in an interview published Wednesday that she didn’t realize what was happening when Smith slapped Rock at the Oscars and that she initially thought it was 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 “Set It Off” actor also discussed some her own history with Rock, telling People that the comedian had once asked her out in the summer of 2016 following rumors swirling around at the time that she and Smith were splitting up.
She said he “profusely apologized” after she told him that any reports about their divorce were “just rumors.”