Will Smith celebrated a milestone birthday Tuesday, Sept. 25, and among the good wishes for the movie star was a happy birthday message from his former co-star Vivica A. Fox. But things took a turn when fans had to defend her against naysayers.
For Smith’s 50th birthday, Fox shared a photo of herself and Smith backstage at VH1’s Big In ’03 Awards. But the inset included a screenshot of the pair smooching in the 1996 blockbuster “Independence Day.”
“Happy Blessed 50th BDay @willsmith Welcome to the official grownup club SUPERSTAR! U are a AMAZING ACTOR a FAB man,husband,father,son,brother and friend! U ALWAYS DO IT BIG WILLY STYLE! ENJOY!! MUAH #Lifeisgood #GodIsGood #Blessed #Respect #Steve #Jasmin #MTVBestKiss #IndepenceDay #Classic 🤩🙆🏾♀️,” Fox captioned the Instagram post.
(@msvfox/Instagram/Getty Images)
Commenters took issue with Fox sharing the kissy shot in a birthday post for her on-screen love interest, since he’s been married to Jada Pinkett Smith for 20 years.
“@reg734443 my dude Garcelle was disrespectful as f— and this is distasteful as f— too. Stop playing.”
“@1luvluv it’s jus kinda disrespectful that other females posting pics of them kissing knowing he has a whole wife…. what women wanna see her husband kissing another women💀 jus my opinion.”
“Whether Jada cares or not, Vivica was a little disrespectful for this. I didn’t understand the point of it? What does that kiss have to do with his birthday???”
But some raced to Fox’s defense.
“Y’all need to shut the f— up about disrespectful some Y’all man other woman live right next door….do Y’all see Jada tripping.”
“This is why I LOVE Vivica! A real one. Garcelle post was just fine. Ppl so uptight.”
“How can it be disrespect wen that’s his job ….😂😂😂😂”
The last comment got backing from Fox herself who wrote, “AGREED @suhmer_channell We WON @mtv award for best kiss!! And I also worked with his wife on #SetItOff #Classics 🤩🙆🏾♀️”
But one fan wasn’t here for her reply.
“@msvfox what does that have to do with anything? Just because y’all had a movie together? That should make it even a better reason to respect the relationship between them rather y’all are friends or not!”
Fox’s controversial post follows one from another former co-star of Smith’s. Garcelle Beauvais shared a screenshot of their on-screen smooth in 1999’s “Wild Wild West.” The backlash led her to remove the post altogether.
