2 days ago
5
A Hollywood actress with a world-famous husband was unrecognizable in resurfaced snaps from her old metal band.
The 53-year-old survived a hardscrabble upbringing riven by her parents' addictions and rose to become a successful name in the entertainment industry.
Her husband is one of the best-known celebrities on the planet, and the pair have enjoyed a longtime status as a showbiz power couple.
While they have been hailed as a rare example of a long-lasting Hollywood marriage, the troubles in their relationship have fallen under intense scrutiny in recent years.
Now old photos are circulating on social media, showing this actress performing in a nu metal band she formed over 20 years ago.
Can you guess who she is?
A Hollywood actress with a world-famous husband was unrecognizable in resurfaced snaps from her old metal band; seen in 2004
The celebrity in question is Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who founded the nu metal band Wicked Wisdom in Los Angeles in 2002.
Jada was the product of a tempestuous childhood in Baltimore, scarred by her mother's heroin addiction and father's alcoholism.
Against the backdrop of her turbulent home life, Jada grew to become a drug dealer by the time she befriended Tupac Shakur in high school.
Tupac, whom Jada described as her 'soulmate' and whom she says proposed to her from jail, was murdered by gunshot in 1996.
Jada began dating Will before he was legally divorced from his first wife Sheree Zampino and married him in 1997 while pregnant with their first child.
At that point, she had already starred on the sitcom A Different World and in a remake of The Nutty Professor, led by Eddie Murphy in the role originated by Jerry Lewis.
In 2002, however, her career took on another dimension when she founded Wicked Wisdom, serving as its lead vocalist.
Jada was one of the few black women performers in metal, and notably sang at the genre's key music festival Ozzfest, founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
The celebrity in question is Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who founded the nu metal band Wicked Wisdom in Los Angeles in 2002; pictured 2003
Will and Jada are pictured at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, the night he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the awards show for making a bald joke about Jada
Jada was one of the few black women performers in metal, and notably sang at Ozzfest, founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne; pictured at a separate concert in 2006
Will is pictured joining Jada onstage at a Wicked Wisdom concert held at the famous Los Angeles outdoor shopping mall The Grove in 2004
'I mean, at that particular time, I don't know of any other black female that was in that particular genre except for Skunk Anansie,' Jada reflected later; pictured 2006
Wicked Wisdom's lineup also included Fishbone alum Philip 'Fish' Fisher on drums; Cameron 'Wirm' Graves on guitar, keyboard and vocals; Rio Lawrence on vocals and bass and Pocket Honore on guitar and vocals.
They released their debut album My Story in 2004, and that year were able to tour around Europe with Britney Spears, who was at the height of her superstardom.
Wicked Wisdom released its self-titled second album in 2006 - and in 2021 they reunited, this time with Jada and Will's daughter Willow, 24.
This year, Jada said that in the early days of Wicked Wisdom she would receive death threats and see neo-Nazis sieg-heiling in the audiences of her shows.
'I mean, it was really intense. I mean, at that particular time, I don't know of any other black female that was in that particular genre except for Skunk Anansie,' she said.
'I had so many strikes against me. I mean, I was a woman, first of all - 'cause even as a white woman, you have a hard time in that genre, right?' Jada told NPR.
Furthermore, she was black and 'a woman from Hollywood,' which she noted was regarded as 'the antithesis of rock 'n' roll.'
She remembered: 'I was the representation of, you know, the machine itself. Yeah, it's a lot of hate out there - for sure, no doubt about it.'
This year, Jada said that in the early days of Wicked Wisdom she would receive death threats and see neo-Nazis sieg-heiling in the audiences of her shows; pictured 2006
However she also recalled experiencing a 'lot of love and neutrality,' sharing the story of a concert in 'this shack' in Texas attended by 'kids' from 'trailer communities' who 'were just happy we were there, seeing them and having a good f***ing time.'
Her marriage to Will fell under blistering public scrutiny in 2020, when she interviewed him on her chat show Red Table Talk about an 'entanglement' she had four years earlier with a dramatically younger man, R&B singer August Alsina.
The relationship became even more notorious in 2022 when Will slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars for making a bald joke about Jada, who shaved her head because she has alopecia and was visibly offended by the quip.
Last year, while promoting her memoir Worthy, Jada dramatically announced on the Today show that she and Will have in fact been separated since 2016.
She explained why she never took the step of legally dissolving their union, saying: 'I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever. And I just haven't been able to break that promise.'
English (US) ·