Willow Smith Reveals That She’s ‘Proud’ of Jada Pinkett-Smith For Opening Up About Her ‘Entanglement’ with August Alsina

On the latest episode of “Red Table Talk,” Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Jones had an conversation about vulnerability.

The three women were recounting to vulnerability researcher Brené Brown their experiences of being at their most vulnerable when Pinkett Smith and Willow publicly discussed, for the first time, Jada’s “entanglement” with August Alsina and subsequent confession to her husband for the entire world to see.

Jada Pinkett Smith shares self with fans. Photo: @JadaPinkettSmith/Instagram

The discussion began when the three women were revealing their “most vulnerable moments” on “Red Table Talk” so far.

While Willow Smith revealed her most vulnerable moment was opening up about her self-harm habits as a younger girl and Banfield-Jones admitted she was most vulnerable on the show when she was talking about how addiction has affected her life, Jada had a much more newsworthy experience of vulnerability. 

“Well, I would say,” she said with an exaggerated smile, her mother giggling in the background, “For me it would be the last ‘RTT’ we did.” The “last RTT” being, of course, her conversation with Will Smith that covered the relationship she had with August Alsina while she and Will were separated.

Pinkett-Smith explained how discussing the “entanglement” on “Red Table Talk” was a “full blast of flaws and feeling” and “the total breakdown of any mask.”

Jada Pinkett Smith and august Alsina (Photos): @jadapinkettsmith/Instagram, @augustalsina/Instagram

Her mother expressed her pride at her daughter’s vulnerable moment. “It was so much courage,” Banfield-Jones said.

That’s when Willow piped in, exclaiming to her mother: “I am so proud of you.”

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1413137392209660

“To be able to see you and Dad do that, for me, that was like, ‘OK, that’s the real deal,'” she continued. “That’s real love. When you can be like, ‘I’m with you, I’m gonna stand by you, and I’m gonna hold your hand because I love you.’ That’s what we do. And that’s really important.”

Jada’s mother seemed to concur with Willow. Banfield-Jones expressed agreement throughout Willow’s statements, chiming in with choruses of “right, right”. 

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith took to “Red Table Talk” in July to discuss the rumors of her alleged affair with singer August Alsina. On the episode, Pinkett Smith admitted to having an “entanglement” with Alsina when she and Smith were separated. While the episode was headline-making news, the two seemed to have reconciled and moved on with their marriage. They revealed in the episode of “Red Table Talk” that they have since worked on their marriage and “gotten to that new place of unconditional love.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top