Jada Pinkett Smith Says She Was Hesitant About Jordyn Woods' 'Red Table Talk' Interview

"It actually wasn’t something I wanted to do because it was very close [to home]."

Jada Pinkett Smith
Getty

Image via Getty/by Matt Winkelmeyer/VMN19

Jada Pinkett Smith

Jordyn Woods' tell-all interview with Jada Pinkett Smith almost didn't happen.

Shortly after she was accused of hooking up with Khloé Kardashian's then-boyfriend Tristan Thompson, Woods appeared on Pinkett Smith's Red Table Talk series to share her side of the story. Woods denied the rumors she had given the NBA star a lap dance and insisted they never made out. She did, however, admit to sharing a good-bye kiss, which Thompson allegedly initiated.

"Never once was I giving him a lap dance, making out with him, sitting all over him," she said during the one-on-one. "It’s just, we're all together, we're in a group. Never once did we leave the public area, go to the bedroom, go to the bathroom [...] it was a kiss on the lips."

In a recent interview with People magazine, Pinkett Smith said she was pleased with the Woods sit-down and believed it helped others understand the full scope of the situation.

"That was my intention honestly … I just wanted her to have a platform to tell her story. That’s it," Pinkett Smith said. "She's a young beautiful woman inside and out and me having been a young girl, we sometimes get in situations that we don't necessarily know how to handle … You just [try to] help young girls navigate through life, through difficult situations we've all come across."

But Pinkett Smith wasn't initially on board with the interview. 

Woods has known the Smith family since she was a child, as her father worked with Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Pinkett Smith told People she was hesitant to have the 21-year-old on the program because of their close relationship. She eventually had a change of heart.

"Jordyn really felt like it was the only safe place that she could do that interview," she said. "It actually wasn’t something I wanted to do because it was very close [to home], but as time transpired, Jordyn was just like, 'I really need you in this platform' and Will felt like it was supremely important. So I was like, 'OK let's do it.'"

You can watch Pinkett Smith's People Cover Story—also featuring Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield Norris—on PeopleTV.com or via the PeopleTV app.

Latest in Pop Culture