Jada Pinkett’s Strategic Oversharing Has the Media Promoting Her Memoir — Hook, Line, and Sinker
Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP
Jada Pinkett Smith has written a memoir entitled Worthy, and with that comes a book tour, a media blitz that teases what’s inside the book so people will buy the book. That’s how that works. But what people are pointing out about Pinkett’s media hits is how much she’s sharing about her private life — or rather, oversharing.
This isn’t exactly a shocker coming from Pinkett, who created and hosted the Red Table Talk series, where she opened up about many aspects of her own inner workings, from living with alopecia to her nontraditional marriage to Will Smith. Now, with the book hitting shelves, she’s revealing even more, and some believe it’s simply too much, including her own kids. A few more believe it could be a sign of something more concerning like something is off with Pinkett Smith.
Oversharing is a symptom of a broader personality disorder, or, more to the point, narcissism. It can be an attention-seeking behavior, a need for validation, or even a compulsive way to fill an uncomfortable silence. Now to be clear, I am in no way an expert on this, but conditions like ADHD, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and PTSD are very real conditions that include oversharing on their list of symptoms.
Again, I’m not an expert. But Pinkett is sharing a lot, all the time, and it feels like with every media hit, she has a new piece of hot goss or intimate tidbit about her personal life. Like the bombshell that she and Will Smith had not been living as a married couple since 2016 but hadn’t filed for divorce. In fact, she was by his side when he attended the Oscars in 2022 and slapped Chris Rock after he made fun of Pinkett. She told Stephen Colbert on Monday that while they didn’t attend the ceremony as a married couple, she left “as his wife.”
It’s stories like this that merited, at least to show producers, an entire segment on ABC’s The View and a diatribe by Stephen A. Smith about Will Smith’s apparent emasculation. People are talking! Columns are being written! Like right now, I’m writing one! Why are we doing this?
Because we are playing right into Jada Pinkett Smith’s hands.
She knows exactly what she’s doing and she knows we’re all tuning in for the next TMI revelation. No one can tell me that she’s talking about her relationship with Tupac Shakur while oblivious to how good that SEO game is right now. Jada knows that’s getting clicks. And she knows that anyone wanting to know more will buy the heck out of her book.
As someone with zero mental health expertise but many (many) years in the media, I can’t fault her for this. And no, I don’t think her mental health is a concern, at least not for us. I’d also have to think that if Pinkett had been diagnosed with something, she absolutely would have told us all about it, probably would have taken notes during private therapy sessions and shared what she discussed. Because can’t you see that headline? Jada Pinkett Smith Violates Her Own Privacy By Sharing Therapy Sessions, Reveals YADA YADA YADA.
Dearheart, we are her therapy. We are also her audience, and we are also her free PR operation. Whether it’s good press or bad press, or press about her husband or her kids, we are talking about Jada Pinkett Smith because she has a book to sell. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just how marketing works. You might get the icks, but it all get the clicks.
And if she didn’t seem a little weird or off-kilter, would we prefer she was boring? No way.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
