Jada Pinkett Smith reveals to People magazine that she hasn’t spoken to Chris Rock since the night of the 2022 Oscars, when the comedian joked about Jada’s bald head on stage and Will Smith hit Rock hand. Rock’s joke was divisive due to Jada’s alopecia.
“No, I haven’t talked to Chris yet… (Do I have) any desire to talk to Chris? That’s my wish: I just hope that all the misunderstandings surrounding this can be cleared up and that Make peace,” Jada told the publication.
Was she offended by Locke’s joke? “I mean, that’s what comedians do,” Jada said. “I just want to say that I’m not really here to make any judgments about how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I will say that my feelings did get hurt a few times. My feelings were deeply felt by Chris. It hurts deeply. But at the end of the day, being in the spotlight, it comes with that.”
While Chris Rock and Jada haven’t spoken since the night of the 2022 Oscars, Jada did reveal for the first time that Rock immediately walked off the stage and walked towards her after being slapped.
“Chris walked to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me,” Jada said. “He said, ‘I don’t mean to hurt you.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this right now, Chris. This is some old stuff. I thought it was about the 2016 Oscars…their stuff before I got into my ’80s We had it before the end. I have to leave that to Will and Chris to discuss, but they definitely got their stuff.”
For Jada, the 2016 Oscars appear to be a blow to the 2022 Oscars. Back in 2016, Jada publicly protested the Oscars amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which failed to nominate a person of color in four acting categories. Rock was the host that year (and even joked about Jada’s protest during his monologue), and Jada said he might have been offended by her comments against the ceremony.
“There may have been some misunderstandings between Chris and I as far as the 2016 Oscars go. I think he might have been angry, no offense intended,” Jada said. “That was not my intention. But I do think there’s a big misunderstanding there.”
“I probably should have called him and gone, ‘Hey, are you okay? You know, even though I’m talking about the Oscars, I do wish you the best and I just want you to know that,” Jada added, noting that she should take the time to reach out to him since he was hosting. “His feelings may have been hurt.”
The two did talk after the 2016 Oscars. “He apologized and I apologized to him,” Jada said. “So I actually think we’re good, we’ve buried the hatchet. We haven’t spoken since then until 2022 rolls around.”
Jada also revealed that Rock reached out to her on a date when rumors spread that she might be divorcing Will.
“I think every summer there are reports that Will and I are divorcing,” Jada said. “This summer, Chris, he thought we were getting divorced. So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’ ” I was like, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, aren’t you and Will getting divorced?” “I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors. He’s shocked. He apologizes sincerely, and that’s it.’
Jada and Will are not divorced, but she recently revealed that they have been secretly separated for the past seven years. Six of those years predated the Oscar slap, which Jada initially thought was just a skit at the time.
“I thought, ‘This is a skit,'” Jada said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started walking back to his chair that I realized this wasn’t a skit.”
Jada’s new memoir, Worth It, will be released on October 17th.
