Jada Pinkett Smith on hair loss journey since Will’s Oscar slap – The Hollywood Reporter

Jada Pinkett Smith is sharing thoughts on how her hair loss diagnosis became the focus of a huge scandal after husband Will Smith slapped Oscar host Chris Rock following the comedian’s joke about the her shaved head.

In an interview with guard published online on Friday, Pinkett Smith was asked if she’d learned anything after her autoimmune disease came to such public attention. Actress known for her roles in matrix franchise and girls triphas been open in the past about her hair loss due to alopecia areata.

“I learned a lot about separation,” says Pinkett Smith. “And I learned a deeper beauty in myself, being able to let my hair down.”

She went on to call her diagnosis “a great teacher. It’s a tough, scary thing – because especially as Black women, we define a lot about ourselves by our hair. And it’s terrifying. I had to really dig deep and see my beauty beyond my aesthetic.

At the Oscars 2022 in March, Rock likened Pinkett Smith to Demi Moore. GI Jane character, who shaved his head. The next day, Will Smith apologized in an Instagram post in which he partially wrote that “a joke about Jada’s health was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. .”

In a June episode of her chat series Red table talk, Pinkett Smith focused on discussing hair loss after the Oscars incident, the actress said that the hardest thing for her was that her hair would come and go. “People don’t understand what hair loss is and they don’t understand its effects,” she said at the time.