Jada Pinkett-Smith Covers American Way
(Photo: American Way Magazine, August 2015)
While her husband is busy putting divorce rumors to rest on social media, Jada Pinkett-Smith is doing her thing and showing us why Will Smith would be crazy to ever leave her. The 43-year-old actress is currently gracing the August issue of American Way magazine, the in-flight publication for American Airlines. Inside, Pinkett-Smith opened up about her upbringing and how her grandmother encouraged her to take on a slew of cultural pursuits.
“My grandmother made sure I was trained,” she said. “I had tap dance. I had ballet class. I had to learn French. I had to play the piano. She just wanted me to be the most well-rounded child.”
These activities might have been what saved her from continuing down a dark path she was already starting to explore as a child growing up in Baltimore.
“So many people I lost on the streets,” she said, “and even just my own life, when I think back to who I was, living in Baltimore and what my ideas of survival were, and the kind of activities I was involved in at 13 years old. I was going to jail or I was gonna see a grave. Those were my two choices, because you get caught up in a mentality.”
Thankfully, Pinkett-Smith came out of that tunnel and has not only made a name for herself in acting (by being patient and extremely picky about the types of characters she chooses to portray), but also in her views on parenting and relationships.
“Marriages go through shifts and relationships go through shifts because in life things shift,” she said. “So people are automatically like, ‘What’s going on? They must be getting a divorce.’ Well, no.’”
You tell ‘em, girl. To read her entire feature, click here.
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