Jada Pinkett Smith says Tupac Shakur was her ‘soulmate’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Jada Pinkett Smith is diving deeper into her past relationships.

After revealing that she and husband Will Smith have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016, Pinkett Smith talked to RollingOut about her friendship with the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Pinkett Smith was asked about Shakur, who died after being gunned down in 1996, being her “soulmate.” She agreed that they had a strong connection.

“If there is such a thing as past lives, I definitely think that Pac and I have traveled a few together,” she said of Shakur, whom she became friends with as a teen when they were both living in Baltimore, Maryland.

As for any type of romantic connection, she said that “wasn’t possible” because “there was no chemistry between us,”

When the interviewer insisted that their chemistry was apparent to others, Pinkett Smith pushed back.

“It’s that friendship love chemistry,” she said.

“It was almost like God made us that way,” Pinkett Smith continued. “It was like, look, I’m going to put y’all together, right? Y’all are going to be a dynamic duo. But I’m going to tell you right now, I’m going to make it so y’all are not going to be able to get together ‘cause that just wasn’t the purpose.”

Pinkett Smith has been doing press for her forthcoming memoir “Worth,” releasing Oct. 17. She writes about her relationship with Shakur in the book.

In a new clip from “Jada’s Story – An NBC News Special,” Pinkett Smith returns to the 2022 Oscars. She said she was surprised by her husband slapping and yelling at Chris Rock to “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”

Rock had made a joke about Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia hair loss.

“First of all, I’m really shocked, because mind you, I’m not there,” Pinkett Smith told Hoda Kotb during the special. “We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time.”

The full NBC special airs Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.