People who know little about Jada Pinkett Smith may only remember her as actor Will Smith’s beautiful wife. But the reality is that she’s been working non-stop in the industry before and after she met her comedian husband.
So, it goes that the 47-year-old mother of two has quite the personal experience when it comes to being a working mom. Here’s Pinkett Smith’s well-informed advice on the matter.
Striking a Balance
According to Pinkett Smith, she decided to stop working and become a full-time mom in the beginning. But she eventually found that the setup made both her and her family miserable as she missed the working life. In the end, she realized that she would be a better wife and mother to her kids if she did the thing that she loved.
Going back to work, Pinkett Smith admitted that she first found it difficult to find a balance between her professional career and family life. Fortunately, she eventually figured things out and managed to juggle her responsibilities effectively.
Despite her personal experience, the actress says that she still understands how different arrangements can work for other mothers, especially those who choose to stay at home. Pinkett Smith believes that people should stick with whatever is working for their family instead of trying to follow what others are doing.
Will’s Advice
She also credited her husband for giving her sound advice when she was struggling. Though she didn’t follow it at first, Smith’s advice for his wife to ‘put her mask on first’ really made sense for Pinkett Smith as years went on.
Comparing motherhood to surviving emergency situations on airplanes, the 50-year-old actor told encouraged his wife to put herself first before being able to care for their family.
The couple first met on the set of Smith’s hit television show ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air‘ in 1994 when Pinkett Smith auditioned to play his love interest. Although she didn’t get the part, Smith knew that he was attracted to the young actress.
They would only become an official couple a year later and marry a few years further down the line.
Award-Winning Show
And it seems like Pinkett Smith is still following her own advice until today. She currently co-hosts the Facebook live show, ‘Red Table Talk’, with both her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and her daughter Willow. The talk show’s premise banks on the different perspectives that three generations of women in the same family have on various topics.
Airing on Mondays on Facebook itself, the show has had a variety of celebrity guests talking about issues from divorce to domestic violence. It recently received its first Daytime Emmy Award nomination for the Outstanding Talk Show category.