Jada Pinkett Smith Says She Had an "Unhealthy Relationship" with Porn

 

It's not unusual for talk shows to get frank, but it is unusual for the hosts to be the ones opening up. That's not the case on Red Table Talk, where Jada Pinkett Smith shares almost as much as her guests.

Page Six reports that in the latest episode of the Facebook series, Pinkett Smith said that she had an "unhealthy relationship" with pornography in the past, going as far to say that she had an addiction to it.

The episode featured Pinkett Smith alongside her regular co-hosts, daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones. Without a special guest — Jordyn Woods, anyone? — the women were free to talk about their own experiences, not focus on any specific scandal. During one segment, Jada said that when she was single, she had a strained relationship with pornography.

<p>Samir Hussein/Getty Images</p>

Samir Hussein/Getty Images

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"I wasn't in a relationship when I had a porn addiction, believe it or not, thank goodness," she said. "I actually feel like I was using 'addiction' a little lightly. And maybe I'll say now that I had an unhealthy relationship to porn at one point in my life where I was trying to practice abstinence."

Pinkett Smith has been married to fellow actor Will Smith for the last 22 years, so it's probably safe to say that she's put this behind her. She elaborated, saying that she used porn to somehow fill an "emptiness" she felt inside. She added that, eventually, all the porn that she was watching gave her "false expectations" of the real thing.

But she wasn't bashing porn entirely. She noted that there is a negative stigma around enjoying porn and that shouldn't be the case, as long as people don't take things too far. In the episode, she also said that becoming addicted to porn, which isn't unheard of, can have negative effects on everything from personal relationships to professional aspirations. Jada seems to be okay with everything now and having someone be so open with her experience with porn — in front of her daughter and mother, at that — is certainly a refreshing topic to bring to the table.