Welcome back to the show.
Thank you.
So good to have you here.
Um, what's really exciting to me is last time you were here,
it's because you were playing a villain in Gotham,
and then now in this new movie,
you're playing the hero, the good guy.
What do you prefer more?
-You know, I kinda like both. -Yeah?
Yeah. Just depends on how the role is written.
But it's-it's fun playing a good guy,
-and it's fun playing a bad guy. -Oh, I like-I like that.
-You get to switch between both of them. -Yeah.
-That's what's lovely about, you know, acting, -Yes.
-you know, being able to play in your shadow world, -Right.
-and play in your angel world. -Oh. I like that.
-Your shadow world and your angel world. -Yeah. Yeah.
I like-I like that a lot. I like that a lot.
This movie is-is a movie about, um,
-you're playing a, um, an agent -Yes.
who is basically investigating Gerard Butler's character.
And we've seen him in previous movies
-where he's a Secret Service agent, right? -Yes.
And-And so, he's being accused of an assassination attempt.
Trying to assassinate the president of the United States,
-which is Morgan Freeman. -Right.
-Yeah. -When you're playing this character in this movie,
I mean, Gerard Butler is, like,
-I mean, he's, like, Gerard Butler, you know? -Yeah.
And then you come in as Jada Pinkett,
and what's crazy is on screen,
you seem five feet taller than you actu--
Like, you-you-you f-- No, really.
-'Cause you're a small per-- and in every scene, -Yes.
it's just like, you're just like, "Wow.
She's, like, gonna kick everybody's ass."
Is that, like, a zone that you get into,
where you go "I'm in kick-ass mode now.
I'm not in, like, 'friendly Jada mode'"?
Definitely. Definitely.
And I had a lot of practice growing up in Baltimore.
(laughs)
I-I actually wondered if that's a technique
that you still employ today with your family.
'Cause I see videos of you and the kids and Will,
and then sometimes Will will do his Instagram videos,
and then it feels like you turn into that FBI agent,
and you're like, "Put the phone down, Will."
(laughs): Yeah.
Definitely.
Let me ask you what that's been like.
Your family, you know, for a long time,
-was very much like a... an enigma. -Yeah.
You know, it was the Smith family.
We saw you at a movie premiere, and-and that was it.
And now with Instagram and social media,
it feels like we know you so intimately.
-Yeah. -You've shared so much.
You-you know, you've cried with us.
You-You've laughed with us.
Has that been a big shift in-in how you live your life?
It's been a huge shift.
I mean, you know, Will becoming a cameraman and everything
-and him posting. (laughs) -Right.
But, yeah, it became a huge shift,
and I think that we actually got a lot more comfortable with it
-as our kids got older. -Interesting.
Yeah, as they got older
and just watching how they were able to, um...
handle being in the public eye
-in a certain manner. -Right, right.
Um, and as they matured, we just figured
we could open up our space a little more
because they could have it.
With Red Table Talk, you've created a show
that has become just wildly, wildly popular.
And, yeah, I mean, there's fans in the audience right now.
(cheering and applause)
What I... what I've loved about the show
is, I think, the thing many people love about it,
is it's so intimate, and yet it connects
-to so many different people's stories. -Yeah.
It's family. It's society's issues.
It talks about issues that are deep.
I mean, there was one issue where you learned
-that Willow used to cut herself. -Yes.
But I feel like you learned that on the show.
I did.
-I did. I learned that... -That must have been a gut punch.
Why-why did you leave that in?
I mean, that's such a vulnerable moment.
-Willow wanted me to. -Wow.
I asked her. I said, "Are you sure
"that, you know, you want to talk about this
on this platform?"
And she said she thought it was really important.
And she was right, because even young people
who were in our family that were going through it...
-Right. -...felt like they could now come out
and tell us because Willow had talked about it.
And there were so many young people that reached out
and felt like they could talk about it now because Willow had.
And, so, that was a really proud moment for me
because as a parent...
'Cause a lot of people also looked at it like,
"You were so cool about it."
And the reason why...
And inside, I'm like... So many feelings are happening.
I want to cry. I want to scream.
I'm like, "How could I not know?"
But in that moment,
I had to remove that parent ego, right,
and really look at my daughter and realize, "Wow."
It was a teachable moment for me in understanding
that we can't be there for our children
sometimes in their darkest hours,
but our love is always there, and part of that
-is what pulls them out. -(cheering and applause)
-Wow. -Yeah.
When you...
When you're creating the show, it's interesting
that you bring up the word "ego."
-Yeah. -Because one of the things
that I've really loved is how...
it feels like there isn't an ego in and around the show.
-Yeah. -You know, and-and that's been a big shift
-even in the idea of what celebrity means. -Right.
You know? A lot of people want to see a perfect image.
Your marriage has been held up for many people as an icon
for, you know, not just black couples,
-but just couples in general. -Right.
You go look at these people. They're having an amazing time.
They're a couple. But you've exposed
how hard it is to be in a relationship,
how many challenges you've faced together,
how you've overcome those challenges together.
-Breaking the facade of perfection... -Yes.
...seems like a very deliberate choice that you've made.
It was a very deliberate choice for Will and I both.
We actually felt like we were being deeply irresponsible
in regards to, um...
trying to uphold this image of perfection
-because it was so deeply false. -Wow.
And we felt like we had so much more to offer people
in expressing and talking about our imperfections
and how-how hard it is
-to be in a relationship, right? (laughs) -Right, right.
Because we don't want people to look to us
to kind of aspire for a perfect relationship.
There's no such thing.
The perfection is within the imperfections,
and so we really wanted to dissolve that. Yeah.
(cheering and applause)
I... I mean, I was a fan, I am a fan,
and I think everyone has become an even bigger fan.
Congratulations on the new movie.
Congratulations on the Emmy...
-Emmy-nominated show. -Thank you. Thank you.
-Red Table Talk. -(cheering and applause)
Thank you so much for being here with us.
-Thank you for having me. -Angel Has Fallen
opens in theaters August 23,
and you can catch new episodes of Red Table Talk
in September on Facebook Watch.
Jada Pinkett Smith, everybody.