Jada Pinkett Smith reflects on kissing Tupac Shakur
Jada Pinkett Smith is opening up in advance of her next book, “Worthy,” in which she will share her personal experiences.
The actress opened up about her complicated marriage to Will Smith, the now-famous Oscars incident, and her extensive recovery journey in a frank interview with Today’s Hoda Kotb on Friday night. All of these topics were covered in an NBC News primetime special that aired the same Friday.
The topic of Pinkett Smith’s relationship with the illustrious Tupac Shakur came up throughout the discussion. Recalling her Baltimore childhood, she shared an astonishing story about how, at the tender age of 14, she managed to balance distributing narcotics while going to the Baltimore School for the Arts.
“Multiple worlds at one time. I’m used to that,” remarked Pinkett Smith, emphasizing how her grandmother had been instrumental in teaching her to adapt to a diverse array of environments.
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Tupac Shakur, a young rapper at the time, was introduced to Pinkett Smith in 1986 by chance.
“Pac was new. It was my sophomore year, and he looked over, and he saw me, and he just targeted me,” Pinkett Smith recalled, adding that her initial impression of Shakur was one of charisma and an infectious smile.
“He had a little peanut head… He was just this happy, bouncy, energetic, just full of life, vibrant, you know? And I was like, ‘Whoa.'”
She recalled the story of their shared kiss on her back porch, a story she had previously revealed with Howard Stern in an interview from 2015.
“We both pulled back like ‘What the hell?'” Pinkett Smith laughed, telling Kotb, “It was not for either one of us.”
Pinkett Smith eventually made it to Hollywood after her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, vehemently argued for a shift in her daughter’s course and urged her to stop dealing.
Shakur and Pinkett Smith kept up a strong connection as their separate careers took off, supporting one another up until Shakur’s untimely death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
Jada Pinkett Smith reflects on kissing Tupac Shakur
