Jada Pinkett Smith – Age, What Was Her Relationship With Tupac?

American actress and talk show host Jada Pinkett Smith is currently 52 years old. In addition to the fact that she looks stunning for her age, and has been immensely successful at her job, Jada has been at the forefront of a lot of controversies, both in recent times and in the past as well. Her marriage to award-winning actor Will Smith, her unconventional pattern of childraising, and her Red Table discussions are known for getting the public in an uproar from time to time.

Another aspect of Jada Pinkett’s life that attracts lots of curiosity from showbiz lovers has to be her friendship with the late hip-hop rapper, Tupac Shakur. The questions about those two have been endless, with thousands of online debates being held about the true nature of their relationship. So did Jada and Tupac ever date? Did they have a fight? Was their friendship really platonic or was that all a lie? Was she somehow responsible for Tupac’s death? Find out the answers to these and more in this read.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s background details

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith was born to American parents, Robsol Pinkett and Adrienne Banfield-Jones on September 18, 1971. She was born in the city of Baltimore in Maryland, USA. Her father Robsol, was an African-American construction worker while her mom was a former nurse of Jamaican descent. Jada Pinkett herself is of mixed ethnicity, with African-American, Jamaican and Bajan roots. 

Jada was the product of teen pregnancy as her mom was still a high school student when she was conceived. Her parents separated only months after getting married, and so Adrienne was left to care for the young Jada alone. As a young child, Jada picked up interests in the performing arts, pursuing interests like dancing, piano, and ballet. This led her mother to enroll her in the Baltimore School for the Arts from where she graduated in 1989 at the age of 18.

Career and net worth

Her career took off all the way back in the nineties, after an initial rough beginning. Apparently, Jada Pinkett had lived the “hood” life and was a known drug dealer when she was a teenager. Upon her graduation from the North Carolina School of the Arts, she decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She started off as a singer and launched a singing career in 2002. She began to create songs and beats for the heavy metal band, ‘Wicked Wisdom’ but the band never took off.

With the help and encouragement of her husband Will, Jada decided to try acting and was immediately rewarded with resounding success. Now the actress is mostly known for her appearances in a series of blockbusters like A Different World (1991–1993), The Nutty Professor (1996), the action-fantasy series The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021), Gotham (2014–2017) and Girls Trip (2017). Later in 2018, the actress branched out and began hosting her own talk show on Facebook called the Red Table Talk where she speaks fearlessly about controversial and difficult topics on health, love, sex, and marriage. Her show has been nominated seven times for the Daytime Emmy Awards, and she has won once.

When you put together all her accomplishments and add them to the production company she owns alongside her husband, Will Smith, Jada’s $50 million net worth seems quite plausible.

Did Tupac and Jada Smith have a relationship?

Jada is renowned for her fearless honesty, especially about her personal life. She has spoken severally about a couple of her intimate relationships, including the famous Tupac Shakur friendship. Tupac is widely believed to be the most influential hip-hop artist to have ever lived. His life was tragically short, but he was widely adored for his passionate upliftment of the Black American race. His legacy has remained alive years after his death and one of those who helps keep his memory alive is none other than Jada Pinkett, the rapper’s ex-friend.

According to reports from Jada herself, she and the rapper went to the same high school and were pretty close. This relationship happened between the late eighties and the early nineties, and it sparked a lot of conversation among the public.

Jada Pinkett Smith declared her relationship with Shakur to be platonic

Jada Pinkett Smith began dating Will Smith sometime in 1995, and yet the bond between her and Shakur remained so strong that even Will got jealous. Jada has since come out to insist that her relationship with Tupac was mostly platonic save for one awkward kiss the two shared.

According to the actress, she and Tupac were selling drugs together until she decided to pull out of that life. Unfortunately for her and her friend, Tupac went even deeper into the thug life. And while Jada was lucky to have gotten away alive, the same wasn’t possible for Tupac. He was fatally shot in 1996 in a gunfight that also claimed the life of rap rival, Notorious B.I.G.

Jada was understandably heartbroken, and her love for her friend sparked the rumors that she was probably lying about her true relationship with Shakur. More fuel was added to the rumors when it was later discovered that Tupac wrote two poems about Jada while in prison for sexual assault.

Jada continues to send shout-out messages to Tupac on his death anniversary, and it doesn’t seem like she cares about what anyone has to say about it… Not even her husband. Smith had once admitted to feeling raging jealousy toward the late rapper, saying that he wished he could have loosened up around the late rapper and that he was “too immature” to have begun a friendship with him when he was alive.

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Why is Will Smith mad at Chris over Jada?

The internet has been buzzing with the news of the famous slap that happened at the Oscars. The Oscars, professionally known as the Academy Awards, are held every year to celebrate and recognize important achievements in the movie industry. The event is famously seen as the most prestigious movie award ceremony in the entire world. The Oscar awards shows, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, usually take place in Beverly Hills, California, and guests are only allowed to attend strictly by invitation.

The 94th Academy Awards did make history, but it was not the kind most of us expected. It was neither Beyoncé’s opening performance of Be Alive, neither was it Ariana DeBose’s historical record as the first queer woman of color to win an acting award, nor was it Troy Kotsur being the first deaf man to win an Academy Award for acting, but rather Will Smith smacking comedian Chris Rock for a joke aimed at his wife, Jada. The comedian jokingly commented on Jada’s bald hair saying, “Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2”, a jab that had Jada rolling her eyes, and Will stomping upstage to give Chris an open-handed smack.

WIll Smith has since apologized for overreacting to Chris Rock’s joke but he still faced the wrath of Oscar producers. Jada’s husband was subsequently slammed with a 10-year ban from attending the Oscars.

Read Also: Is Jaden Smith Gay or Transgender?

That singular incident was a huge shock to the world

The incident shocked the entire world, and the audience as well. Everyone could be seen sitting shell-shocked with most of them gasping at the incredulity of the situation. Will himself stomped back to his seat and shouted the following words at Chris, who was still too shocked to respond, “keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth!” Some reports state that the comedian tried to diffuse the tense situation by saying joking that “that was the greatest night in the history of television”, by reason of the slap.

Moments later, Will was called up to receive his Oscar for ‘Best Actor for the movie ‘King Richard’, – where he portrayed Serena and Venus Williams’ father, Richard Williams – and he apologized to everyone in the audience except for Chris. Amid the uproar that has ensued in the aftermath of the incident, Chris Rock has decided not to press charges.

Will Smith has since apologized to Rock for hitting him, while Chris maintains that he is still trying to “process” what happened on Sunday. In all of this mayhem, Jada’s response has been to put out an Instagram picture with an inscription saying: “This is a season for healing and I’m here for it.” It is widely expected that Will Smith will face some disciplinary action for his actions and the Academy has already thrown in the verdict by banning him.