Jada Pinkett Smith Made Strong Comments About ‘This Bald Head of Mine’ Days Before Oscars

A comment Jada Pinkett Smith made about her bald head just days before the Oscars is raising eyebrows in wake of the Will Smith and Chris Rock controversy. In a TikTok video released on her official account a few days before the Oscars, Pinkett Smith talked about her “hair regrets,” positing that she wasn’t worried about public perception of her shaved hairstyle.

The actress, who lives with alopecia, discussed her hair journey in the video. “Being a Black woman and dealing with hair in Hollywood, especially in the era that I came up in, having your hair look as European as possible was always the thing,” she said in the video. “That was really challenging, you know, because I liked my hair out wild and curly.”

“But nobody wanted that. So I always had to do my hair in ways that didn’t feel natural to me because of trying to play the game. So if I’m doing a cover, everybody’s all, ‘No we want your hair straight and flowy.’ It’s like ‘All right, cool, but that’s not really what my hair likes to do.’ So I had to learn to get the courage to go, ‘Nah I’m not doing it,’ which is why I feel the freedom today – I don’t give two craps what people feel about this bald head of mine. Because guess what? I love it.”

The video, which was tagged with the hashtags “#hairjourney and #iamnotmyhair” and included the caption “Be proud of your crown,” is making the rounds on social media. One commenter wrote, “Sooooo, did Will not know Jada didn’t care what anyone thought of her shaved head?? I am confused.”

Pinkett Smith, her husband Will Smith, and comedian Chris Rock made shockwaves during the Oscars Sunday when Rock, who was presenting an award, cracked a joke about Pinkett Smith’s bald head. At first, Will Smith laughed at the joke, but he quickly changed his tune and stormed onstage to slap Rock, much to Rock’s and the audience’s complete and utter shock. The development was made more significant a few minutes later when Smith won Best Actor for his role in King Richard and delivered an emotional acceptance speech. Smith has since apologized to Rock on social media.

Pinkett Smith, 50, has been open for years about her “issues with hair loss,” beginning in a 2018 episode of her Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk. “It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, am I going bald?’ It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking in fear. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it.”

In an Instagram video from December 2021, she ran her finger across a bald line patch on her scalp and said, “Now at this point, I can only laugh. Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here. Look at that … So it just shows dup like that and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So I thought I’d just share it so y’all are not asking any questions.”