Jada Pinkett Smith thinks Hollywood scrutiny is nothing compared to her life growing up.
The Magic Mike XXL actress faces a lot of press attention over her marriage to fellow actor Will Smith. While the couple have been married for 17 years, rumours continue to swirl that they are on the verge of divorce. But Jada takes all the speculation on the chin, as she’s been in much harder situations in the past.
“If you really want to know, I'm thankful for the Hollywood scrutiny, that that's my problem. There are mothers out there losing their sons, their husbands, their daughters. I'm blessed,” she told American Way magazine. “So scrutinise me. I'll take that any day over what the majority of my people are dealing with on a daily basis. I dare not complain. Hollywood scrutiny has nothing on what I've survived just to be here.”
Jada had a tough upbringing in Baltimore which means she doesn’t take her life now for granted. She does her best to keep her children Jaden, 17 and Willow, 14, on the straight and narrow, having been faced with going down the wrong path herself at their age.
“So many people I lost on the streets 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,” she recalled. “Those were my two choices, because you get caught up in a mentality.”
Thankfully Jada made the decision to focus on her acting career and is now a bona fide star thanks to roles in The Matrix and The Nutty Professor. As for her marriage to Will, the actress insists that rumours of trouble are just that.
“Marriages go through shifts and relationships go through shifts because in life things shift,” she explained. “So people are automatically like, ‘What's going on' They must be getting a divorce.’ Well, no.”
