Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur grew up in Baltimore together and shared the same love for the arts. Some say the great rapper was the actress’s first love, high school crush or whatever label you want to use to describe their friendship. Their friendship lasted throughout the years, and even after his death, Pinkett Smith remained close to his mother, Afeni Shakur.
When Pinkett Smith heard about Afeni Shakur’s death Tuesday, she was actually in New York City attending a Mother’s Day event appropriately titled, “Dear Mama.” The actress immediately shared a thoughtful post about Afeni Shakur on Facebook.
“Today I woke up to the news that Afeni had passed. My first thought was of Sekyiwa [Tupac’s half sister] and the entire clan that loved Afeni,” she wrote. “Then I remembered that I was in N.Y. to attend a Mother’s Day event named after a song written about Afeni, ‘Dear Mama.’ My heart tightened and then all kinds of memories flooded in.”
Pinkett Smith also reminisced about time she spent with Afeni Shakur at Jasmine Guy's house, and how Shakur helped her during her own crisis:
I quickly remembered how calm Afeni was especially during any crisis. She always had a way of making me believe all would be well. But my fondest memories of Afeni was spending time with her at Jasmine Guy’s house as Jasmine was writing Afeni’s book. Tupac had passed, and now I was a business woman, wife, and a mother and we could talk real and I mean really real. I got to see where Pac got his passion, his ideals for equality and justice but most of all his depth of thinking. Afeni was a giant in her own right. Today she is reunited with her son and Sekyiwa has two majestic angels to look after her. One for each shoulder. Rest in peace Afeni, and give Pac a hug and a kiss from me.