Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed that 2Pac asked her to marry him while he was serving time in prison in 1995.
The actress made the claim during an interview with former NBA stars Matt Barnes and Stephen Jacksonâs All the Smoke podcast as part of the promotional run for her upcoming memoir Worthy (out October 17).
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âWhen I wrote about that in the book and when I had to talk about it, speak my words for the Audible version of the book, that was probably one of the more painful parts,â she said. âSeeing him there, the condition that he was in and having to leave him there. He was in bad shape. And so, when he asked me to get married, he was at Rikers [Island].
âI knew at that time that he needed somebody to do time with him, which I was gonna do anyway. He didnât have to marry me to do that. Iâm here. He needed a rock. Because of our friendship and everything we had been through together, he just wanted to feel that solidified foundation.â
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She continued: âI promise you, he wouldâve married me and divorced me as soon as his ass got out [of prison]. He wouldâve! [âŠ] I just think it was the mind state that he was in. He wrote me this long letter, and even before âPac went to jail, he was starting to shift in a certain manner. Good, really good.
âAnd I think that for him, he just felt like, âOkay, if I can tether myself, itâll keep me on a trajectory.â But trust me, he wouldâve divorced me as soon as he â one thing he wouldnât want me as is a wife. I know that for a fact! But I think just being at Rikers, it just kinda shook him a little.â
Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Tupac Asked Her to Marry Him.
(đ„: Showtime Basketball / YouTube) pic.twitter.com/FsWFAuzlXK
â The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) October 13, 2023
Jada Pinkett Smith also opened up about not speaking to 2Pac during the last year of his life due to a heated argument they had.
âI just felt like he was off track a little bit, and I spoke on that and we got into probably one of the most heated arguments we ever had,â she said. ââPac and I getting into heated confrontations was not unusual. This happened to be a very heated one, and I didnât speak to him for a year.
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âI was hurt, I was pissed, and I really kinda dug my heels in the ground. I was just like, âHe went too far and heâs gonâ have to call me, and Iâm standing my ground on it.â And I learned that, donât waste time like that. Itâs like, a whole year out of my pride. Both of us. Very prideful. Just hard-headed, prideful. âCause none of it mattered.â
She added: âThe day [2Pacâs mother] Afeni called me, when I found out he had been shot again, I didnât give a [fuck]. That whole conversation and whatever was going on with Suge [Knight] and all that, it didnât matter. So why should it have mattered for a whole year?
âIt didnât matter. And surely once he was gone. So I just learned, man, donât hold on to bullshit. Itâs not worth it. âCause you just never know.â
Jada Pinkett Smith says she didn't talk to 2Pac the last year of his life over a heated argument where she felt like 2Pac went too far.
(đ„: Showtime Basketball / YouTube) pic.twitter.com/8DkNpcFT49
â The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) October 13, 2023
Jada Pinkett Smith and 2Pac first met as teens at the Baltimore School for the Arts and became fast friends. âAs soon as he approached me, he was like a magnet,â she once said. âOnce you paid attention to him, he kinda sucked you in â and we hit it off from that moment on.â
She later married Will Smith in 1997 and shares two children with the former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star.
In his own memoir Will that came out in 2021, Smith opened up about his âraging jealousyâ over the close bond that 2Pac shared with his future wife.
âThough they were never intimate, their love for each other is legendary â they defined âride or die,ââ he wrote. âIn the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection. He was âPAC! and I was me.
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âHe triggered the perception of myself as a coward. I hated that I wasnât what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.â
Smith went on to admit that he felt a âtwisted kind of victoryâ when Jada would spend more time with him than Tupac.
âIf she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward,â he added. âI was in a room with Tupac on multiple occasions, but I never spoke to him. The way Jada loved âPac rendered me incapable of being friends with him. I was too immature.â