Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Alopecia Lessons At Center Of Oscars 2022 Slap Scandal

Jada Pinkett addressed the issue at the center of the Smith slap — the word that echoed around the world nearly a year ago at the 2022 Oscars, when her husband Will Smith took the stage after comedian Chris Rock made a joke aimed at Pinkett Smith. Lack of hair.

Pinkett Smith broke her silence on the matter to tell the UK’s Guardian how she felt about her autoimmune disease and the alopecia that comes with it becoming the subject of a global scandal.

She says now: “I learned a lot about isolation. And I learned a deeper beauty in myself, being able to let my hair go.

“It was a tough one, a scary one — because especially as black women, we define ourselves so much with our hair. And it was scary. I had to really dig deep and see my own beauty outside of my aesthetic.”

In the same interview, Pinkett Smith — who creates and narrates the new Netflix docuseries African QueensAlso discusses navigating the entertainment industry 30 years ago, when he saw far fewer black faces around him – focusing on royal figures in African history.

He said: “Something as simple as even coming into the game at such a young age, and how I had to navigate the need to be ‘less black’. How do you navigate people threatened by your blackness? By not taking it personally and understanding: ‘Okay, right now I’m on this earth. How do I navigate this without letting their discomfort with my blackness get to me?’ It’s a hell of a thing to navigate.”

“It’s something that can either make you bitter, or it’s something that you can look at, not take personally, then push back against.

“You make compromises that you hope will not take you completely away from your roots. It’s the difference between being distracted to get what you need, or being consumed by someone else. It’s about being clear about who you are.

African Queens Debuts on Netflix on February 15.