Jada Pinkett Smith hosted Robyn Crawford on Red Table Talk, and the two bonded over their relationships with very famous people who have died.
Pinkett Smith grew emotional midway through the interview with the author as she discussed her own tumultuous friendship with late rapper Tupac Shakur.
“It was so healing for me in so many different ways,” Pinkett Smith told Crawford about her new book, A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston. “It’s hard to live with someone who has had a legacy at the level she has had and then to lose them under tragic circumstances. I have a very similar situation.”
Pinkett Smith and Shakur met when they were teens in Baltimore, attending Baltimore School for the Arts. The acclaimed rapper was later gunned down in a drive-by shooting while riding down a Las Vegas street on Sept. 7 1996. The two former friends were estranged at the time of his death after a fight led to their separation.
At the red table, Pinkett Smith remembered how possessive Shakur could be with her even though they were never an actual couple. The actress said she thought of that memory after a reading a scene in the Crawford’s when Houston tore up a Bible that Crawford had given her after finding out Crawford had slept with a backup dancer.
“I understood because of the complex relationship I’ve had with Pac,” Pinkett Smith said. “In those moments of his, ‘Whose that?!’ knowing damn well there ain’t nothing like that between us.”
You can catch the full episode below:
