Jada Pinkett Smith Keeps the Passion Burning With Will and Work

By Margot Dougherty

The Smith Residence in the San Fernando Valley is on a serious piece of property. As I bumble along a path that doesn't, as it happens, lead to the front door of the sprawling, low-slung adobe-style home, a walkie-talkie-equipped member of a plainclothes security detail appears to guide me to the entrance. Framed by masses of potted succulents, the Moroccan-inspired wooden door leads to a large open foyer, a preamble to an airy sunken living room where Southwestern and African elements blend comfortably and the window looks out onto a large pond. The place is grand, but warm and eclectic. I am led to the dining room, where the table has been set.

When Jada Pinkett Smith arrives, the first word that springs to mind is petite; her body is lost inside black sweats and a giant black T-shirt with a heavy-metal band's logo splashed in red: Mnemic. It takes only a few minutes of conversation, though, for Jada to become larger than life. "I don't know what's in here," she says, using chopsticks to airlift one of the intricately bundled dim sum dumplings left on platters for us by her cook. "All I know is it's not pork and it's not cow. I don't eat those." Her conversation swoops and glides from the serious to the silly, her voice from barely audible to dinner-party loud. Profound observations about relationships and motherhood are leavened with a laugh, and when an idea tickles her, she claps her hands and hoots. You can imagine that both she and her audiences had a blast when she toured with her metal band, Wicked Wisdom, a few years ago.

In addition to her metal credentials, 37-year-old Jada is an alum of the late '80s/early '90s Bill Cosby series A Different World. Since then she has focused on film roles — the steely Niobe in two Matrix installments, the voice of the sassy hippo in both Madagascars, a tightly wound prosecutor in Collateral, and a gay author in last year's The Women. But now she's back in front of the TV cameras in TNT's new dramedy, HawthoRNe, about a hospital nursing staff led by her character, Christina Hawthorne.

Wife to Will Smith, mother to their children, Jaden, 11, and Willow, 8, and stepmom to Trey, Will's 16-year-old son from his first marriage, Jada is also an actively engaged writer-producer-actress and, through the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, a philanthropist. Suffice it to say she's busy. Not too busy, though, to give us a peek into her world.

We gave her a camera, and here she shares the personal snapshots she took over several days, as well as her thoughts on playing the ultimate nurturer and shattering the concept of the ultimate wife. Welcome to life through Jada's eyes.

Check out the exclusive photos Jada took of her family!
VIDEO: Jada's Embarrassing Moment Behind the Scenes


 

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