Jada Pinkett Smith Addresses August Alsina Affair Rumors On 'Red Table Talk'
No one can say that Jada Pinkett Smith isn’t a woman of her word. When singer August Alsina went public in June with his claim that he and Pinkett Smith had a romantic relationship with the "blessing" of her husband Will Smith, the Girls Trip actress promised to speak for herself to address the rumors.
“There’s some healing that needs to happen … so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table,” she tweeted referencing her popular Facebook Watch talk show, "Red Table Talk."
Apparently today is that day.
Pinkett Smith sat down with her husband and admitted that she did have a relationship with Alsina at a time when she and Smith had decided to separate.
Pinkett Smith admitted that she was in "a lot of pain and very broken" and realized you can't find happiness outside of yourself."
"It all started with [August Alsina] just needing some help. You know? Me, wanting to help his health, his mental state," Pinkett Smith began. Alsina recently shared that he had been suffering for years from liver and autoimmune diseases, as well as mental health and addiction issues. "We found all those different resources, you know, to help pull him through," she continued. "And from there, you know, you and I were going through very difficult time. ... we basically, we broke up."
Smith added, "We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time and you go figure out how to make yourself happy and I figure out how to make myself happy."
During that separation, Pinkett Smith shared that she had gotten close with Alsina. "As time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August," she said. Will then pushed her on her choice of words: "This is your red table and you like brought yourself to the red table. I think you need to say clearly what happened," he pressed, until she finally confirmed, "It was a relationship, absolutely."
Her husband then asked, "What do you feel like you were looking for?" to which she candidly replied, "I just wanted to feel good. It had been so long since I felt good. And it was really a joy to help heal somebody."
Smith, always one to break the ice with a joke, followed by saying that he felt like he was one of those wives who stands by her man as the husband admits to his past transgressions at a press conference.
The couple went on to talk about how they decided to come back from the brink of divorce, heal together and renew their commitment to their marriage and their family. It was a decision that apparently was tough for Alsina to accept.
"As I came through and started to realize certain things about you and I, he decided to break all communication with me, which was totally understandable," she said. "And I let that be and hadn’t talked to him since."
As far as the rumors resurfacing now, and Alsina's perception that Smith had "given permission" for the affair, Pinkett Smith had this to say: "What August was probably trying to communicate, because I could actually see how he would perceive it as permission because we were separated amicably. I think he also wanted to make it clear that he’s not a homewrecker, which he’s not."
Watch the full conversation between Jada and Will on Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch below: