Will Smith Reveals He ‘Suffered a Raging Jealousy’ Over Jada’s Relationship with Tupac: I Wanted Her to ‘Look at Me Like That’

Gramercy Pictures, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Will Smith opened up about the “raging jealousy” he suffered over Jada Pinkett Smith’s relationship with Tupac Shakur in his recently released memoir. 

In his book Will, Smith revealed he was “tortured” by the connection his now-wife Pinkett Smith developed with Shakur after they met at the Baltimore School for the Arts in the 1980s.

“Though they were never intimate, their love for each other is legendary – they defined ‘ride or die,’” he wrote. “In the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection. He was PAC! And I was me.”

The actor went on to praise Shakur’s “intoxicating” and “fearless passion,” highlighting the late rapper’s “willingness to fight and die for what he believed was right.”

“‘Pac was like Harry,” Smith wrote, comparing Shakur to his younger brother. “He triggered the perception of myself as a coward.”

Smith further shared that he felt insecure about Shakur’s “militant morality,” especially as the actor was self-critical regarding his inability to stand up to his father when he turned violent. 

“I hated that I wasn’t what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that,” he wrote.

Smith went on to admit he experienced a “twisted kind of victory” when his relationship with Pinkett Smith grew more serious, leading her to spend less time with Shakur.

“If she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward,” Smith wrote. “I have rarely felt more validated.”

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star also revealed that while he was in the same room as Shakur on several occasions, he never spoke to him.

“The way Jada loved Pac rendered me incapable of being friends with him,” he said. “I was too immature.”

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