Jada Pinkett Smith on hair loss "shame" and the Oscar snub

Jada Pinkett Smith on hair loss “shame” and the Oscar snub

Web Desk

03rd Jun, 2022. 12:29 am
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) – Jada Pinkett Smith transformed her husband’s Oscar-night meltdown into a learning moment about alopecia areata, a hair-loss illness that affects her and millions of others and may damage a person’s sense of self-identity in some situations.

“Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories,” Pinkett Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of “Red Table Talk.”

The actor said she chose to use “this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition” and what it is. Her guests included the mother of a 12-year-old girl, Rio Allred, who was bullied over her hair loss and died by suicide, and a physician who explained the different types of the disorder.

Before tackling the subject, Pinkett Smith addressed events at the March 27 Academy Awards. She and husband Will Smith, a best-actor nominee, were in the audience as presenter Chris Rock cracked a joke at Pinkett Smith’s expense.