Jada Pinkett Smith will release a memoir next fall about her rise to fame and “complicated marriage to Will Smith,” publisher Dey Street Books announced on Thursday.
The forthcoming book is billed as a “no holds barred” retelling of the influential actor and TV host’s “difficult but riveting journey ... from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of personal rediscovery and the celebration of authentic feminine power.” A title for the memoir has yet to be revealed.
According to Dey Street Books, the book will include details about the “Red Table Talk” panelist’s “unconventional” Baltimore upbringing as the daughter of two parents struggling with addiction who studied theater and briefly dealt drugs before becoming a Hollywood star. The title will also explore Pinkett Smith’s close friendship with late rapper Tupac Shakur and her love story with Will Smith, as well as her “joyous embrace of motherhood.”
“The world has imposed many labels and narratives on Jada Pinkett Smith. This is down to the realities of our media landscape, but also the roles thrust upon women by culture,” the vice president of Dey Street Books, Carrie Thornton, said a statement.
“At the center of all the speculation and false stories is a woman who, like so many women, has had to reconcile her personhood with the needs of those she loves. This memoir is Jada giving the world her truth, taking readers on a journey from lost girl to woman warrior.”
The memoir announcement comes several months after Will Smith was banned from the Oscars for 10 years by the film academy for slapping presenter Chris Rock in the face at this year’s ceremony. Smith hit Rock after the comedian cracked a joke about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head — which prompted a larger conversation about alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that causes rapid hair loss.
Pinkett Smith has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia, especially after the Oscars incident brought the condition into the spotlight. In a June episode of her popular Facebook Watch series, “Red Table Talk,” the “Matrix Revolutions” star said she hoped Smith and Rock would eventually “have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile the state of the world today.”
“We need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever,” she added. “Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years. And that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together.”
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