News of October 13, 2023
Marriage Proposal on Rikers Island: Jada Pinkett Smith on Tupac
Kiss on the porch, proposal from a cell: Ahead of her memoir “Worthy,” Jada Pinkett Smith reflects on her connection to Tupac.
Their connection spanned from art school in Baltimore to a marriage proposal on Rikers Island. Ahead of the release of her memoir Worthy, Jada Pinkett Smith spoke about Tupac in several interviews in October 2023.
A Glance at Art School
In an NBC special with Hoda Kotb on October 13, she recounted how she met Tupac in 1986 at the Baltimore School for the Arts: “Pac was new. It was my sophomore year, and he looked over, and he saw me, and he just targeted me.” He was charismatic, full of life, with a beautiful smile. She also remembered a kiss on the back porch.
A Proposal from a Cell
On the podcast All The Smoke, she spoke of a marriage proposal during his incarceration on Rikers Island: Tupac was in bad shape and needed someone to do time with him. She had planned to do that anyway-he did not need to marry her for that. In her words, the two were never a couple.
Alopecia After the 1991 Arrest
She also writes that Tupac suffered from alopecia, an autoimmune condition causing hair loss; according to her observation, it began after his 1991 arrest in Oakland. The statements come from Pinkett Smith herself and are not corroborated by a third party.