| | |  | Jada Pinkett Smith News & Gossip
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| | Jada Pinkett Smith doesn't want to be in the spotlight; Will is Mr. Mom | | Added 15 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Jada Pinkett Smith is married to the most popular movie star in the world (according to box office returns) and has a successful career in her own right. She says in an interview with the LA Times that she never intended to become a Hollywood star, however. The interview is meant as a promotion for her new TNT show HawthoRNe, produced by and starring Jada as a head nurse in a Richmond, VA hospital. The show is groundbreaking in its own right, as is one of only a few prime-time dramas to star a black woman. However, Jada doesn’t like to think that she is “starring” in it - she prefers to think of it as an ensemble cast.
“This is scary for me. I’ve never liked being at the center,” continued the Baltimore native, whose first big industry break came on the ’90s sitcom “A Different World.” “I know this is being marketed as the Jada show, but it really is an ensemble. I’ve never looked to be at the center because I feel stuff like that traps you.”
Appearing in the series, which premieres Tuesday, also shows her willingness to tame her wilder side, an exploratory offbeat nature that has led her to pursue more unconventional projects such as fronting the heavy metal band Wicked Wisdom, as well as writing and directing a provocative film, “The Human Contract.” (It is being released this month on DVD.)
Working on a TV show as a sympathetic, warm nurse is at the extreme end of the spectrum from “The Human Contract.” But it marks a step toward her wish to reach a wider audience. That drive has brought a new dynamic into the Smith household, according to her husband.
“Jada has always been more of a wanderer,” said Will Smith. “She is where she’s going. I’m never where I’m going — once I get there, I’m already bored and ready to go somewhere else. She’s now opening up her ideas and goals to scrutiny, and that can be a very new and painful place to be. She is learning how to trust her team, to collaborate.”
Her new role has reignited spirited discussions with her husband about her preference to blend in. “My husband has been baffled by this forever,” she laughed. “I remember him asking me, ‘Jada, what do you want? I don’t understand why you don’t want to be the biggest actress in the world.’ But I never came to Hollywood for that. I really, really don’t like boxes. I’ve only wanted to do what I want to do.”
[from LA Times]
Jada and Will are not only different in their career goals, but also in their parenting. Jada jokes that during the three-month filming for “HawthoRNe,” Will had to be Mr. Mom to their three kids. That meant eating chocolate for breakfast and staying up as late as the kids wanted. But once she’s home, she says, the old rules are back in place. Considering the system that she helped set up for her school in LA, I’m guessing she doesn’t let her kids eat chocolate in the mornings.
Before taking on the titles of producer and star of the TNT drama ?HawthoRNe,? which debuts on Tuesday, Jada sat down with her famous family to make sure they?d be OK without her.
?I said, ?Listen, there was a show I?d love to do and it will be three months that you might not see Mommy a lot,?? she told CNN. ?And they?re looking at me like, ?Really? What does that mean???
But she said more daddy time with Will means a break from mom?s rules for Willow, 8, and Jaden, 11.
?So they get to eat chocolate for breakfast and go to bed whenever they feel like it for those three months while I?m working,? Jada said. ?So, it works out, and they know that the rest of the year, I?m off.?
But Jada?s not too far from her family ? the show is filming in Inglewood, Calif., close enough to the Smith home for Will to make a cameo on her show.
?He?s an extra in one of the episodes, so just see if you can catch him,? she said. ?He?s walking by, doing a drive-by, and we could hardly afford that. It was a very costly walk-by.?
[from Access Hollywood]
As for Jada’s new show, Hawthorne, the reviews are in and they are bad. A reviewer in the Washington Post said that it is “a show in need of emergency care.” According to the critics, everyone plays exactly the character you think they would: the male nurse is insecure about his gender; the patients are either annoying are far too sweet; the doctors are way too high up on their horses to know what’s going on; and Jada’s character’s mother-in-law is too mean. There’s also Hawthorne’s rebellious teenage daughter to consider. Of course, the Washington Post reviewer was also comparing it to another new nurse show, Nurse Jackie, starring Edie Falco, which is getting rave reviews.
It doesn’t sound like Jada’s show is much longer for the airwaves. In the meantime, she has her new movie The Human Contract to promote, as well as practice with her heavy metal band, Wicked Wisdom.
Jada, Will, Jayden and Willow are shown on 12/9/08 at the premiere of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Credit: PRPhotos
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| | Jada Pinkett Smith sort of denies those lesbian/sham marriage rumors | | Added 15 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Jada Pinkett Smith is Ebony?s June cover girl (story via Young, Black and Fabulous), and she?s out promoting her new TNT series Hawthorne, where she plays a nurse with a heart of gold. Jada sort of addresses all of those rumors that husband Will Smith is gay, and that Jada herself is gay, and that they have some kind of fraud-tastic open marriage. Jada just sort of says what the rumor is, but doesn?t really deny it. She does call Will a ?man of God? and gives credit to their faith for making their marriage work.
Jada is also stepping back from all of those rumors that she and Will are now Scientologists. Regarding the New Village Leadership Academy, the school they have practically made with their funding, Jada says it is not a school built on Scientology conversion - ?That is straight evil to think that I would bring families into that educational institution and then try to get them to convert into some religion.?
Jada Pinkett Smith is proof that good things come in small packages. The 5-foot-tall powerhouse is in control and living life to the fullest as she awaits the premiere of her new TNT drama, ?Hawthorne?.
The talented actress, producer and rocker was surprisingly forthcoming about her marriage to Will, her views on the Church of Scientology and even the Internet rumors.
?You want people to talk about you, because once they stop talking about you that?s when you?re really in trouble! I?m happy to have people talk about all the craziness they want to talk about, whether it?s things like every year we?re getting divorced or we?re an open family or Will?s gay, or I?m gay.?
On how she makes her marriage work?
?People always ask me, ?Will, he?s the biggest movie star in the world and we ain?t never heard of him with anybody. How do you keep him from stepping out on you??? ?I?m not that powerful,? she confesses. ?I wish I could say it?s because I?m a bad chick. What it has to do with is Will?s relationship with God and who he wants to be as a man for God.?
On rumors about the New Village Leadership Academy?
?All I can say is it is not a Scientology school. Now, If you don?t trust me, and you are questioning my integrity, that?s a whole different matter. That is straight evil to think that I would bring families into that educational institution and then try to get them to convert into some religion.?
On their decision to home school?
?I didn?t want my children around other privileged kids who felt entitled. I didn?t want them to be around just one type of person.?
On spending time with the kids?
?A lot of time, we just sit at home and watch movies together,? she says. ?I like to bake with the kids ? 7UP cake is our favorite.?
On divorce?
?When Will asked me to get married, I said, ?Understand this, there will be no divorce. So, you might be in one bedroom and I might be in another, but we?re gonna be under the same roof and we?re gonna be married.??
On religion?
?I believe the worst thing a human being can do to another human being is to take away their God. At the end of the day all we?re trying to do is figure out how to live this life and be fulfilled.?
[From Young, Black and Fabulous]
I?ve seen the ads for Hawthorne, and it looks pretty awful. It seems like one of those poorly-written series where the writers and producers are trying so hard to make their ?star? the hero or heroine of the show, the characters become flat and boring. In the previews, Hawthorne is yelling at a series of doctors because, you know, I guess she?s like the only person in an entire hospital who actually cares about the patients. I?ve never really cared for Jada, and this interview hasn?t really changed my mind.
Here are Jada and Will at Vanity Fair?s Oscar party on February 22nd. Images thanks to WENN.com .
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| | Jada Pinkett Smith to open a high school | | Added 15 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Jada Pinkett Smith and her husband Will opened a K-6 elementary school last fall in California called the New Village Leadership Academy. The two homeschool their own children and felt they had the money and knowledge to open their own school. The Smiths have close ties with the Cruises, and Will has donated money to the Church of Scientology. Smith’s school uses some of the teaching methods of Scientology, although Will Smith denies that it is primarily a Scientology school.
Jada now plans to start a high school, one that presumably follows many of the teaching methods of the elementary school, including Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s unproven “study tech”:
Jada Pinkett Smith is adding another title to her resume: schoolmaster. The actress-producer and her husband, Will Smith, opened the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabasas, Calif., last fall. The school is for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.
Now Pinkett Smith hopes to open a companion high school.
Pinkett Smith says she decided to open the elementary school after developing a home-school program for her children.
The school generated some controversy because it relies on instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. But the school’s director has said it isn’t a Scientology facility.
[from Star Pulse]
The school’s website says that it has a no-sugar policy; serves organic, fat-free lunches; teaches children at their individual level, not their grade; and has an emphasis on hands-on learning. One wonders how much of the policies they’ll translate into the high school - it will be hard to convince 16-year-olds not to smuggle in candy and chips. But hopefully the individualized teaching and hands-on aspects won’t be put aside. It’s easy for kids to just fall through the cracks, especially in high school. It’s a little surprising, however, that they don’t have plans for a middle school. It seems like that would be the logical next step.
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are shown at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on 2/22/09. Credit: WENN.com
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