Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals What ‘Triggers’ Her, Especially With White Women

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith, 47, spoke openly in a candid interview about having her own biases to overcome, particularly with blonde white women. According to People, Pinkett Smith sat down on Monday’s episode of Red Table Talk to share that she had to catch herself when she notices these biases coming out.

On her television series Red Table Talk, Pinkett Smith sits down with her daughter, 18-year-old Willow, and mother Adrienne to discuss real-life issues including life, love, motherhood, and family. On this particular episode Pinkett Smith held nothing back in talking about her experiences with white women. After having negative experiences with blonde women in the past and being ridiculed for her race as a child, Pinkett Smith says that she finds she is particularly triggered by women of that hair color.

The actress even admitted she once almost skipped an interview upon realizing that the woman who was to interview her was a blonde white woman. “I was going to do an interview with this blonde woman and I thought twice about it. I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’ That was my first instinct because of how she looked! And I was like, ‘Oh! That’s no different.’ That doesn’t give me the right to clump all blonde women in one,” she continued. “And look at me, I got blonde hair! It’s no different than you getting robbed by a black guy once and now you’re saying all black dudes are thieves and dangerous,” she said.

Although white women might not have experienced bias based on their race, Pinkett Smith says that like all women they have likely dealt with gender bias at some point during their life. “I think what crushes me, specifically in my relationship with white women, the thing that really breaks my heart is that white women understand what it feels to be oppressed,” she said.

Pinkett Smith then invited one of her producers, Annie Price, to share her opinion on the issue. Price admitted that she as a white woman is often hesitant to talk about race out of fear of saying the wrong thing or accidentally offending someone. She also claimed she is sometimes weary of reaching out to form a relationship with black women thinking that they don’t want to be her friend.

Pinkett Smith said that she hopes that through effective communication, white women and black women will begin to understand one another better and realize that they really aren’t very different.