Will Smith Gives His Early Review of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Memoir

His words, delivered via email and to a podcast host, are kind—if you can believe him.

By Rich Juzwiak  |  October 16, 2023 | 2:00pm
CelebritiesDirt Bag
Will Smith Gives His Early Review of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Memoir
Photo:Michael Tran / AFP (Getty Images)

We should take this information with a grain of salt, as we will with everything Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith say moving forward after effectively misleading us for the past seven or so years by publicly acting like a couple despite their separation, buuuut Will has things to say about Jada’s upcoming book, Worthy. And they’re kind!

Notably, in an email to the New York Times for a profile on Jada, Will credited the book with helping him appreciate her life and what she’s been through. The email is summarized and briefly quoted in the piece:

The memoir, Smith said in an email, kind of woke him up. She had lived a life more on the edge than he’d realized, and she is more resilient, clever and compassionate than he’d understood. “When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life,” he wrote, “a sort of emotional blindness sets in, and you can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties.”

Meanwhile, during an appearance on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty, the eponymous host read Jada a note he said he received from Will (as reported by our sister site The Root). It went:

I applaud and honor you. If I had read this book 30 years ago, I definitely would have hugged you more. I’ll start now.
Welcome to the authors club. I love you endlessly. Now go get some merlot and take a rest.

Given their distance, hugging more frequently will presumably be complicated, but no matter. In response to the note, Jada said in part: “That’s beautiful. That’s why I can’t divorce that joker.” Allow me to just flash back to last week when the bombshell revelation that Jada and Will split in 2016 was shared on the Today show:

“It was not a divorce on paper,” Kotb prompts, to which Pinkett Smith confirms. “…but it was a divorce,” Kotb presses. “Divorce,” Pinkett Smith states plainly, nodding her head.

To be fair, Jada then added, “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through…whatever. I just haven’t been able to break that promise.” A woman of her word, who knew?

Elsewhere in the Times profile, Jada described watching Chris Rock’s post-slap Netflix special, in which the comedian commented on the happy coup— …well, whatever they are. Said Jada: “I remember my heart piercing, my heart cracking, and I remember my feelings being so hurt. And then I remember being able to smile and wish him well at the same time.” Among Jada’s memoir’s revelations: Rock, she says, asked her out on a date when he thought she and Will had broken up. That tracks!

This weekend, Madonna kicked off her Celebration Tour at London’s o2 stadium, after a three-month postponement deriving from her health emergency this summer. The greatest-hits setlist included unassailable classics like “Vogue” and “Open Your Heart,” as well as some fan-favorite deeper cuts like “Bad Girl.” Though there were some technical issues, her voice sounded great and her extensive onstage banter was sharp and witty. Of particular note was “Live To Tell,” which took her through the air (via a mechanical platform) as she was surrounded by pictures of notable people who died of AIDS, like her mentor Martin Burgoyne and disco diva Sylvester.

The headline of Variety’s review read: “Madonna’s Celebration Tour Proves the Material Girl is Still the Reigning Queen of Pop Music.” The piece quotes Madonna as telling the crowd between songs, “It’s been a crazy year. I didn’t think I was going to make it and neither did my doctors.” But she did and look at her go.

 
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