Jada Pinkett Smith Thought Will Smith And Chris Rock Staged The Oscars Slap
As it would turn out, Jada Pinkett Smith was just as much in the dark about the slap heard ‘round the world as the rest of us watching from home were. According to People, the actress at the center of the drama was completely caught off guard when her husband, Will Smith, approached Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards and slapped him.
Jada Pinkett Smith says, like many watching from home at first, she thought Will Smith’s Oscars slap was a staged bit.
“I thought, ‘This is a skit,’” Jada Pinkett Smith said to the publication, explaining that she thought, “‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’” But her belief that the action was simply just a staged bit quickly went to shambles by the time Will began to walk back to his seat, which is the moment she “realized it wasn’t a skit.”
From there on out, it would be hard for anyone to still be confused between a planned interaction and full-on assault as Smith continued to curse at Rock from his seat.
Will Smith would go on to win the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, a moment that he erased for himself due to the assault on Chris Rock.
The night continued to go on, with Chris Rock presenting the award for Best Documentary, but the entire event had been eclipsed by Will Smith’s shocking behavior. When things slowed down, Jada Pinkett Smith says that she asked Will if he was okay and told People that although she would always stand “by his side,” she was also going to let him “figure this out for himself.”
Will Smith would go on to win the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, a moment that he erased for himself due to the assault on Chris Rock.
Just the tip of the iceberg, Jada Pinkett Smith speaking about the infamous slap would likely have been the most exciting thing that she opened up to People about but the interview contained much more than that.
Digging into her relationship with Will Smith, she revealed that the pair had been separated for seven years, meaning that they were well into their separation by the time the 2022 Oscars rolled around. Not ready to throw in the towel on their love just yet, she says that the couple is still doing “heavy-duty work” to hopefully make it out the other end.
Her interview with People magazine comes just in time for the drop of her memoir, Worthy, which will arrive on bookshelves and internet platforms on October 17.
The waters surrounding Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been choppy for years, with rumors circulating that both parties were at fault for various affairs. Perhaps the most talked-about instance was back in 2020 when Jada Pinkett Smith was rumored to have stepped out of the relationship to pursue an affair with singer August Alsina.
Bringing herself onto her talk show, Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith sat across from Will Smith as they detailed everything that happened leading up to, during, and beyond the situation.
Her interview with People magazine comes just in time for the drop of her memoir, Worthy, which will arrive on bookshelves and internet platforms on October 17. With the major revelation surrounding just how long the couple’s been separated, readers can certainly expect several more twists and turns from Jada Pinkett Smith as she breaks down her life and part in one of the most speculated-on couples in Hollywood.
