LOS ANGELES (AP)—Jada Pinkett-Smith made her husband scream on Oscar night as a warning about alopecia areata, a hair loss disease that has plagued her and millions already, that in some cases can affect a person’s identity.
“Thousands of people have reached out to me with their stories about my health and what happened at the Oscars,” Pinkett Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of Red Table Talk.
The actress said she decided to use this moment “to give our alopecia family a chance to talk about what it feels like to have this condition and what it is.” Among her guests were the mother of 12-year-old Rio Allred, who was bullied for hair loss and suicide, and a doctor who explained the various ailments.
Before moving on to this topic, Pinkett Smith returned to the events at the Academy Awards on March 27. He and his wife, Best Actor nominee Will Smith, were in the audience when he joked about host Chris Rock Pinkett Smith.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2 can’t wait to see it,” said Rock. Speaking publicly about alopecia, Pinkett Smith had a clear head like Demi Moore in the 1997 movie.
Smith stepped onto the stage from his front seat and slapped The Rock to the surprise of the comedian and the audience. Returning to his seat and later winning an Oscar for King Richard, Smith subsequently apologized to The Rock, but the film academy banned him from the ceremony for 10 years.
“Now, about Oscar night, I really hope these two smart, talented men have a chance to heal, argue and reconcile,” Pinkett Smith told Red Table Talk, not directly referring to Smith at The Rock. “The state of the world today, we need both, and we all need each other more than ever.
“Meanwhile, Will and I continue to do what we’ve been doing for the past 28 years and learn about this thing called coexistence,” said Pinkett Smith, who previously responded to the incident in a short Instagram post. It’s healing season and that’s what I’m here for.”
The actress (Girls Trip, The Matrix movies) who hosts a talk show on Facebook Watch with her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield Norris revealed that millions of people live with alopecia, calling it the “shame” that surrounds it. This can affect a person’s self-perception, especially in black women, and cause them to frequently confront others’ ideas about beauty, hair, race, and culture.
Rio’s mother, Nicole Ball, spoke about the impact of the Oscar incident, which happened less than two weeks after her son’s death.
“What is the universe doing now? This is crazy,” said Top. “Google users: “What is alopecia… What is it that we haven’t heard of yet?” This is no joke.”
According to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, the disease affects 6.8 million people in the United States of any age, gender, and ethnicity, and symptoms can vary.
“I think the hardest thing for me is to come and go. You go through some kind of spell and you have to shave your head,” said Pinkett Smith.
Source: Breitbart
