Jada Pinkett Smith stopped by “The Breakfast Club,” to dispel rumors about her husband, Will Smith, and another actor that circulated online earlier this week.
During the interview, the “Girls Trip” actress revealed that she encouraged her Smith to have female friends. The topic came up after DJ Envy asked the actress if she and Smith had a conversation about his insecurities stemming from her relationship with late rapper Tupac.
Pinkett Smith said that they never had the conversation, but it was something that Smith had to get used to.
“We came up in the era where it was so unusual for a man and a woman to be friends…that’s more of an open idea now,” she stated. “But just think, in our era that was just like ‘Friends!?’”
Envy chimed in suggesting that, “They had to be dating.” The “Matrix” star explained that Smith had to wrap his mind around the fact that she and Tupac simply had a “tight” friendship.
“I think it was just getting the understanding around that Tupac and I could be friends,” Pinkett Smith said, “And that he was a part of my life in that way. And so we had a lot of conversations around just those ideas.”
Envy then asked how her husband got over his insecurity, and Pinkett Smith said she couldn’t speak for Smith, but “he just realized that’s what it was.”
The 52-year-old claims Smith realized that a friendship between the two genders was possible after he got some female friends himself. Envy asked how she felt about it, and Pinkett Smith said, “I always told Will, ‘You need some female friends.’”
The “Red Table Talk” host believes that men need female friends, and vice versa. She went on to say that once men have daughters they begin to realize that they can have meaningful platonic relationships with women.
Many on social media agreed with the message from the “Menace II Society” actress, but some were not as receiving of the messenger. Some people echoed her sentiment including one individual who wrote, “As long as there is trust you can have all of the friends you want but respect your partner.”
However, others called out Pinkett Smith saying, “Nah, Jada was in love with Tupac. Will had reason to feel a way. Men and women can be friends BUT she’s the wrong one to illustrate this narrative.”
This wasn’t the only headline that came from the interview as Pinkett Smith also gave her two cents about the allegations against her husband and actor Duane Martin. The rumor started after a man named Brother Bilal told gossip blogger Tasha K that he walked in on the two men being intimate while he was working for Smith.
Pinkett Smith said, “It’s ridiculous and it’s nonsense,” when asked about Bilal’s allegations. She alleged that the entire matter was plot created by Bilal to extort Smith over some money that he believes he is owed after allegedly working with the actor on his self-titled memoir “Will.”
She noted that this wasn’t the first time that Bilal had tried to get money out of Smith. But after his recent attempt, she and Smith are planning on taking legal action against the man who said he was a close friend of the “Independence” star.
