Jada Pinkett Smith, 50, has been open about battling alopecia over the past few years. Her struggles with the condition made headlines at the 2022 Academy Awards, when Chris Rock made a joke about her shaved head look, and Jada’s husband Will Smith slapped the comedian and yelled at him to not make jokes about his wife. Chris had said, “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” and the actress rolled her eyes, before her husband went on-stage and slapped him. The joke lead to many people finding the comic’s quip unfair, given Jada’s struggles with alopecia. Over the years, she’s been very open about losing her hair. Find out what she’s said about it here.
Jada reveals she has alopecia
Jada first admitted that she was diagnosed with condition in a May 2018 episode of Red Table Talk. She opened up about how “terrifying” it was to find clumps of hair falling out in the shower. She explained that the condition led to her experimenting with different styles and wearing turbans. “I’ve been having issues with hair loss,” she said.
While Jada said that it was a scary experience at first, she came to accept it, through a belief in a higher power, before a clip showing how she wraps her hair up. “If the higher power wants to take your hair, that’s it,” she said. “When I looked at it from that perspective, it settled me.”
Jada shaves her head
A few years after first opening up about her hair loss, The Matrix Resolutions star revealed that she’d made the decision to go for a buzz cut, along with her daughter Willow, 21, who also rocks a shaved head, in a July 2021 Instagram post. She seemed excited about embracing the fresh look to start her 50s. “Willow made me do it because it was time to let go,” she wrote in the caption. “My 50’s are bout to be Divinely lit with this shed.”
Jada shares Will’s reaction to her shaved head
A few months after debuting the new look, Jada had another Red Table Talk session where she and Willow spoke to Tiffany Haddish about shaved heads. When Jada’s Girls Trip co-star asked the actress what her husband’s reaction was, she said, “He loved it. He was like ‘stunning!'” Willow also chimed in and laughed saying that her dad had texted her a photo, with the caption “Stunningly beautiful!”
Jada laughs at hair loss and wants a crown
Jada opened up about her alopecia again in another Instagram post back in December 2021. She showed a line in her hair that was more visible, and she said she needed to make her hair shorter so as not to confuse anyone who notices it. “At this point, I can only laugh,” she said. “This is gonna be a little bit more difficult for me to hide.”
The Gotham star seemed glad to embrace the hair loss, saying she wanted to add rhinestones and maybe make a crown around her head. In her caption, she also sounded like she was excited to mix up her style! “Me and this alopecia are going to be friends,” she wrote.
Jada shows off her shaved head on the red carpet
As she’s embraced her shaved head, Jada looks totally gorgeous. She’s stunned at appearances for the premiere of Bel-Air or the SAG Awards, where she rocked a navy blue dress to match her husband Will Smith’s suit. At the 94th Annual Academy Awards, she sported a beautiful green dress that flowed behind her as she went to support her husband on his nomination for King Richard.