Here’s How Jada Pinkett-Smith Copes With Her Severe Mental Health Struggles

LifestyleMarch 13, 2019

Jada Pinkett-Smith may be married to one of the funniest men in Hollywood but this didn’t exempt her from a struggle that a lot of people go through.

The actress and host has recently opened up about her experience with depression to her daughter Willow Smith and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris during an episode of Red Table Talk, a web-based talk show series.

Read on and find out her story.

The three generations of women also host the web series which started airing in May of last year.

When Even Waking Up Was a Struggle

Pinkett-Smith told her mother and her daughter about the years she battled severe depression sharing how she felt like waking up in the morning was the worst part of her day.

While the feeling wears off as she drudges on to do the things she wants to do, Pinkett-Smith recalls feeling dread come not time because it meant that the cycle would start again the next day when wakes up.

Throughout the episode, the 47-year-old mother of two, also mentioned experiencing a nervous breakdown around the age of 20 but didn’t quite realized what was going on at the time of its happening.

According to Pinkett-Smith, she just remembers losing control over her thoughts and emotions. This later on led to her having suicidal thoughts.

Fortunately, Smith and Banfield-Norris were all ears to her story and were supportive during her revelations.

The episode was aired after recent news about the suicides of designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain made headlines.

Coping With Drugs

Pinkett-Smith started working as an actress at just 20 years old

In another episode, she opened about how she used drugs to cope with her mental health issues while talking about the then-recent death of rapper Mac Miller due to a supposed drug overdose.

She admitted how the rapper’s struggles reminded her of her own mentioning how she used ecstasy, weed and binge-drinking alcohol in an attempt to get some peace of mind.

Recalling her youth, she said that she started doing drugs only because she wanted to party and get high. While she didn’t make the connection between her substance abuse and mental health issues, in the beginning, she, later on, realized she was on a fast track to becoming a full-blown addict and dealt with it.

Couples Therapy

Mr. and Mrs. got married in 1997 after two years of dating and now have two children, Jaden, 20, and Willow, 18.

While the actress turned host didn’t mention much about how she got therapy for her depression, she and her husband have previously come out to talk about how therapy helped in saving their marriage.

The couple may look well on the outside, what with their adorable shenanigans on the red carpet and picture-perfect family life, but being married for over 20 years, the two had their own private problems to deal with.

She said that letting the truth out and facing it head on made them re-evaluate their relationship and learn to love each other again knowing what they know about each other now.