Not long after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, Jada Pinkett Smith promised that some of her family’s “discoveries around … healing” would be shared “when the time calls.”
That time has arrived.
On Wednesday, Jada Pinkett Smith welcomed members of the alopecia community to her Facebook Watch series “Red Table Talk” after that Oscars moment sparked fervent discussions about the hair-loss condition she suffers from.
“Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories,” Pinkett Smith said at the top of the show.
“I’m using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is.”
Before Will Smith walked onto the Oscars stage and smacked Rock in the face, the comedian made a joke comparing Pinkett Smith’s shaved head to Demi Moore’s hairstyle in the 1997 film “G.I. Jane.”
Prior to the awards show, the actor and TV host had been vocal about her experiences with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that causes rapid hair loss and affects about 7 million people in the United States, according to dermatologist and “Red Table Talk” guest Meena Singh.
“Now, about Oscar night,” Pinkett Smith continued.
“My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile the state of the world today. We need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years. And that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together.”