I loved Jade Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk. Even more so, I loved the way her daughter Willow was. Willow emanated beauty, compassion, and grace like some kind of earth angel. I saw this in Jada as well, to a lesser extent, so I figured Jada had something to do with that.
When Will had his Oscars meltdown, I hated that Jada was made the villain in all of that. I can’t help but think that’s why this book has gotten an overall rating of 3.8 when it deserves so much more.
Worthy is beautifully written and with so much insight and intelligence. I can relate to a lot of things Jada talked about—her love of all kinds of music, growing up with drugs and danger (the fearless freedom), her constant struggle to keep healing wounded parts of herself, and not giving up until she got there.
I found her fascinating with all her knowledge, interests, and abilities. And this is a woman who transformed her life, having been a child of two people with an addiction who were not present for her, growing up in a poor and dangerous hood, managing to get educated and achieve one success after the other.
She is hilarious in the last chapter, providing explanations for everything people had to say about her behavior on that awful Oscars night. Why she rolled her eyes after Chris Rock’s joke. How, despite people’s insistence that she gave Will the side eye signaling him to go beat up Chris, she has nowhere near that much power and control over Will Smith.
Nowhere in my reading of this book did I see where she embarrassed or emasculated Will. He comes off looking pretty damn good in this telling. The way she writes about him, you know how much she loves him—unconditionally. And you can see why.
It’s obvious that headlines we’ve seen, like “Jade never wanted to marry Will,” have been taken out of context from her book or a story they’d heard. Many stories seem to have been taken out of context. What she struggled with most of that time can’t be minimized and certainly can’t be dismissed.
Jade does takes accountability for her life mistakes and admits when she got things wrong. She has continued to grow. In fact, she writes like a person with empathy, one who realizes how vulnerable we all are. She’s had to deal with critics and naysayers but handles even that with kindness and grace.
For those who dismiss her as a self-proclaimed guru, please understand people sharing their struggles and earned wisdom isn’t about trying to be some guru. It comes from a place of love and caring for fellow human beings. As a writer of my own recovery memoir, I promise you that we share with the hope that it might help someone. And we share it with love. There are just some people the world wants to fight with, and I think it’s because they represent a truth people are not quite ready for.
So, I’m happy Jada Pinkett Smith wrote this book, and I’m glad I read it. In fact, I wished I could give her a hug. I just love her.
And this is why I like to read memoirs. It’s so important for us to relate to one another and understand each other’s struggles. It always seemed to me that if we all understood one another better or tried to, the world would be a much nicer place. If we can’t even do it individually, how do we do it on a global scale? How do we create a kinder world?
So. thank you, Jade. Your book is a gift.
Worthy
4.1 | 1,743 ratings
Price: 22.04
Last update: 01-07-2025
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