Jada Pinkett Smith Reacts to Being Blamed for Oscars Slap: I Was Seen as an ‘Adulteress’ (Exclusive)

Jada Pinkett Smith reflects on the aftermath of her husband Will Smith’s Oscars incident.

“It was funny how far it went,” Jada, 52, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, reflecting on rumors that she was somehow to blame for Will, 55, punching Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.

“But at the same time I realized. With the fake story that I cheated on Will or that I was like some adulteress, Will has never done that before,” says Jada. “And I think when we look at just human nature … when we look at the breadcrumbs, people have something to blame.”

“People who don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, I certainly wasn’t surprised that they blamed me,” she added, as some interpreted the incident. “But I realized that’s just the human nature of it all.”

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Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Will, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor during the same ceremony, was subsequently banned for 10 years from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events – including the Academy Awards – in the days following the incident.

Will previously stated that his wife “had nothing to do” with his reaction to Rock’s joke, which made fun of Jada’s alopecia. Among Will’s other apologies for the incident, he shared a video on his Facebook page and YouTube in July 2022 in which he outright denied that Jada “[told Will] do something” in response to Rock.

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“It’s like… I chose from my own experience, from my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it,” Will said in the video at the time. “I’m sorry honey. I want to apologize to my kids and family for the heat I brought on all of us.”

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Elsewhere in this week’s episode, Jada says she first assumed the incident was a “skit” that Will and Rock concocted for the Oscars broadcast.

“I thought, ‘There’s no way Will hit him,'” she says. “It wasn’t until Will started walking back to his chair that I realized it wasn’t a skit.”

Jada tells PEOPLE that the first words she said to Will after they were alone after the Oscars telecast ended were, “Are you okay?”

Her new memoir, Worthyhits bookshelves everywhere on October 17th.

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