Photo: Getty Images
For the first time since the 2022 Oscars, Jada Pinkett Smith has addressed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in an emotional episode of "Red Table Talk," per Entertainment Weekly.
On Wednesday (June 1), the "Red Table Talk" host released a tell-all episode centered around her journey with alopecia and hair loss. Jada said the special episode was inspired by the numerous people who reached out to her following Rock's joke at the 94th Academy Awards.
The actress, joined by her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and daughter, Willow Smith, suggested Rock's Oscar comment was hurtful because of the deep anxiety and "shame" she has over losing her hair.
"One of the reasons I thought this show was really important is because I had so much outreach from people who suffer from alopecia, have children who suffer from alopecia, and they don't talk about it because there's so much shame around it," Jada said. "There's so many people walking around who have alopecia and that we don't even know. I felt like it was so important to allow the alopecia community, our brothers and sisters, to tell their story. I think that people don't understand what alopecia is and they don't understand the effects of it."
On March 27, Will walked onto the Oscars' stage and proceeded to slap Rock after he mocked Jada's hair while he was presenting the award for Best Documentary.
For the first time since the infamous night, Jada addressed the incident directly and called for reconciliation between Will and Rock.
"Now, about Oscar night. My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile," Jada said. "The state of the world today? We need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that's keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening."
During Wednesday's alopecia-centered episode, the trio of hosts also brought on Niki Ball to discuss her 12-year-old daughter's suicide, which came after students bullied her at school for her shaved head. Jada, along with her mother and daughter, cried as Ball recalled her daughter's struggle with alopecia and the March 14 tragedy, which occurred two weeks before the Oscars incident.
"I was just like, 'What is the universe doing right now? This is crazy. People are going to be googling, "What is alopecia?"'" Ball said. "It's not a joke. The alopecia community was already in an uproar. We'd heard from so many people. I didn't realize how huge and amazing that community is."
Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.