A resurfaced clip from Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk series shows how husband Will once spent three years planning a surprise birthday party – only for her to not quite display the reaction he’d hoped for.
The couple spoke about the time when Jada, now 50, was celebrating her 40th birthday, and Will had decided to take it upon himself to throw her a lavish surprise do.
However, things didn’t go down as well as he’d hoped – in fact, her reaction was so bad, that it sent Will into a ‘low point’, while Jada admitted it ended up being the ‘turning point’ in their relationship.
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The two were speaking about the incident in an episode of Red Table Talk, which Jada hosts with their daughter Willow and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris.
Jada recalled: “I think the turning point in our relationship for me, happened when I turned 40. That’s when I had a mid-life crisis."
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Will agreed: “Yeah, your 40th birthday was my low point."
The actor went on to explain how he’d planned his wife an elaborate party, having started preparing for it three years before her birthday.
He said: “The day after her 37th birthday, I hired a team to orchestrate her 40th birthday.”
Turning to daughter Willow, he continued: “I hired a documentary team, I traced mommy’s family roots.
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“Her 40th birthday was going to be my thing!”
Jada then cut in, with a look of disappointment on her face: “It was going to be a splash.”
Will then shared the details about what he’d arranged, saying: “Mary J. Blige performed, I debuted the film, all of that.
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“It was going to be the thing that lifted her out of this mid-life crisis. It was going to be my deepest most beautiful proclamation of love.
“And she told me that the party was the most ridiculous display of my ego.”
As Willow let out a sympathetic sigh, her dad continued: “Crushed, right? And to this day I know I was crushed because it was true. It wasn’t a party for her.”
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After the clip was re-shared on Reddit recently, many people were surprised to hear about Jada's reaction.
One person commented: "Wow.... What the f**k," before referring to Jada as 'ungrateful'.
Another wrote: "Imagine being married to someone that spent literally years planning a special event for you and instead of gratitude you say it’s all to feed their ego… marital bliss."
A third wrote philosophically: "Treat her like she's a celebrity, she'll treat you like a fan."
However, some others could see Jada's point of view, with one saying: "The way he described it sounded like it was to feed his own ego."
Later in the conversation, Will remembered 'snapping' in front of his daughter for the first time due to what happened.
He said: “When she called me on that - that’s when I snapped."
Turning to Willow, he added. “I’m sorry - that was the only time you’d ever heard me snap.”
As the two hugged it out, Jada laughed and said: “Thank God!”
Will continued to say that it had been 'the only time' in his daughter's childhood that she ever saw him snap.
He said: "I saw her look and Willow starts crying and I was like, ‘Baby, I’m sorry, sorry’ and she was like, ‘Just figure it out. You guys just please figure it out, figure it out.'”
Jada then added: "That was a display - that moment of like me having the courage to just say no.
"But now I had to have the courage to unravel it. And just realising the next 40, I gotta do it my way.”
Topics: Celebrity, Will Smith
Jess Hardiman