In a heartfelt interview, Jada Pinkett Smith opened up about her profound bond with the late Tupac Shakur, reflecting on a relationship that transcended the physical and delved deep into the emotional.
The childhood friends, who met at school and instantly felt a connection "as if we already knew each other," were so close that they even considered each other "soulmates".
On Steven Bartlett's The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Jada, while holding back tears, shared a touching image of her with Tupac and their friend Maxine - who tragically died by suicide around the same time Tupac was killed.
Their closeness was evident, yet their relationship was never physically intimate. "Throughout our relationship we definitely had this beautiful closeness that was really intimate but never physically intimate," Jada stated.
This was a point of confusion, even to them. Jada humorously recalled an incident where they tried to kiss and how it turned out to be "the most disgusting kiss between us both."
The actress believes that the lack of physical intimacy may have been for the best. "God was like 'no I got a plan and that's not part of the plan,'" she explained. Their bond was so profound that Tupac, even while serving a sentence at Rikers Island, proposed marriage to Jada in a heartfelt letter.
She graciously turned him down but remained a fixture in his life until a massive altercation regarding Tupac's behavior post-prison led to their separation.
Devastatingly, this was their last interaction before Tupac's tragic death in 1996 at the age of 25. A cold case for over 25 years, recent developments saw the arrest of Duane 'Keffe D' Davis in connection to Tupac's killing.
She said: "I really took for granted that he would be living forever, he had already survived so much. I looked at Pac as being invincible at this point... That was the last time I spoke to him and you know what's crazy, it meant absolutely nothing."
In the same conversation, Jada shed light on her relationship with Hollywood superstar, Will Smith. Admitting to feeling "thrown to the curb" during their secret separation, she highlighted the stark differences in their "love languages". While Will believed in working hard to provide everything for her, Jada longed for emotional intimacy, wanting to "look in [Will's] eyes and feel his love."
Jada elaborated on the struggles of maintaining a balance in relationships and the false notion many have that giving everything to a partner will eventually lead to personal happiness. "If I'm not connected to myself, if I don't have a good relationship with me, there's nothing he can do," she revealed.
