When Will Smith Revealed He Felt ‘Tortured’ By Jada Pinkett Smith’s Connection With Tupac Shakur (Picture Credit: IMDB)
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Hollywood stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are known to all. The duo never miss a chance to make headlines, either for standing for each other at Oscars 2022 or for their tumultuous relationship. While they are now in an open marriage, there was a time when the Oscar-winning star was jealous of his wife’s close friendship with late rapper Tupac Shakur.
Will and Jada began dating in 1995 and further tied the knot in 1997. They have been married since and share their two children, son Jaden and daughter Willow.
In 2021, Will Smith released his memoir, Will, in which he also wrote about his bittersweet relationship with Tupac. For the unversed, Jada and Tupac were close friends for a long while. The two attended the Baltimore School for Arts together and soon became inseparable. While there were many speculations about their romantic involvement, the two often confirmed they were all false. In 1996, Tupac was killed in a shooting.
In his memoir, the Men In Black star revealed that Jada and Tupac’s connection tortured him. Will Smith wrote, “In the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection. He was ‘PAC! and I was me … though they were never intimate, their love for each other is legendary.” He added how he was jealous of the late rapper’s “fearless passion” and “militant morality” and often compared it to his situation when he could not stand up to his violent father.
The actor also compared Tupac to his brother Harry, who did stand up to their father, and wrote, “[He] triggered the perception of myself as a coward. … I hated that I wasn’t what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”
Will Smith further added how his jealousy made him feel that Jada’s assurance could do something good for him. He wrote, “If she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward.” “I have rarely felt more validated. I was in a room with Tupac on multiple occasions, but I never spoke to him. The way Jada loved ‘Pac rendered me incapable of being friends with him. I was too immature,” the actor added.
