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Jada Pinkett Smith On Why She Included Tupac’s Prison Proposal In Worthy

The actress tells The Root the importance of having that shocking detail in her new memoir.

Jada Pinkett Smithโ€™s new memoir, Worthy, is full of several shocking revelations. The star discusses her stint as a drug dealer in Baltimore, being separated from husband Will Smith for the last six years and the special connection she had with Tupac Shakur.

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In the book, Jada also reveals that the late rapper proposed to her while serving time in prison. The Root asked the actress her thoughts on critics who may not understand the relationship she had with Tupac.

โ€œIโ€™d say if youโ€™ve never had a friendship like that, itโ€™s a hard one to understand. It really is. Everybody leaves out nuances. Everybody thinks everythingโ€™s so black and white all the time,โ€ she states.

Jada adds:

โ€œItโ€™s like โ€˜Oh, how could they have been that close and there not been a romantic dynamic between them?โ€™ But the truth of the matter is there wasnโ€™t and we just had a really special connection and friendship that there is no real word for. People are like โ€˜Nah, that feels like more than a friendship so it had to be this and that.โ€™ People [are] always trying to find those titles so that they can understand what something isโ€“and I totally, totally get it. Pac and Iโ€ฆ we couldnโ€™t understand it at times, you know, until we resolved that it just was what it was.โ€

Revealing Tupacโ€™s marriage proposal in Worthy was a tidbit Jada wasnโ€™t sure about adding, but knows it was important for her to be as truthful as possible. โ€œAt first, I wasnโ€™t gonna include it,โ€ she says.

โ€œBut what I didnโ€™t want to happen was that I didnโ€™t include it and really explain it and then it come out laterโ€ฆand then here we go with people being like โ€˜See! She didnโ€™t tell the truth!โ€™ So I wanted to explain and put it in contextโ€“like he was in Rikers and I had always been a constant in his life.โ€

Jada also believes that vulnerability played a huge part in the proposal.

โ€œI donโ€™t think people will necessarily understand what it meant for him to be at Rikers. He was in a fragile state, so he was grabbing for that which he felt was stable, you know?โ€ Jada remarks.

โ€œAnd I promise you, the moment he walked out of the gates of that jail, he wouldโ€™ve divorced my ass. He didnโ€™t want me as a wifeโ€“that I knew. We got to thatโ€ฆhe understood that.โ€

Worthy is out now.

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