Jada Pinkett Smith recalls being told “You Don’t Need It. You’re Married to Will.”
The 'Red Table Talk' host agrees with Taraji P. Henson's on 'Not Being Paid Her Worth'
Pinkett-Smith says she's been lowballed in Hollywood because of who she's married to, Will Smith.
During a recent interview via on WBLS, Pinkett Smith shared her thoughts on Tarai P. Henson's claims that she is underpaid in her industry. “My heart broke for Taraji, and I was also happy to see how courageous she was to speak about it in the way that she did,” said Smith. “One of the things with Taraji is that she is the breadwinner of her family. Her pressures would be different than mine. I have to put that out front, because if it’s time to walk away, that’s not always the solution. Because what people don’t understand with us as Black entertainers, we carry a lot of people with us.”
Pinkett Smith continued, “people would literally say, ‘Well, you don’t need it. You’re married to Will." Jada also discussed the type of roles that she'll take. “It’s not to say that I won’t get in front of the camera, but what it takes for me to get in front of the camera, it’s more. Just in regard to the kind of roles that I want to play or that interest me. And I’m thinking about directing.”
Last year of December, during a SiriusXM interview, Taraji P. Henson gets emotional as she discussed unfair pay. “I’m just tired of working so hard being gracious at what I do and getting paid a fraction of the cost. I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over,” she began. “I hear people go, ‘You work alot.’ I have to. The math ain’t mathing. When you start working you have a team and big bills come with what you do.
“When you hear someone saying ‘Such and such made $10 million.’ That didn’t make it to their account. Know that off the top Uncle Sam is getting 50 percent. Do the math now we have $5 million. Your team is getting 30 percent off of what you gross not what Uncle Sam took. Now, do the math. It seems whenever I break a glass ceiling and it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again.”