Jada Pinkett Smith was all smiles as she stepped out in style for a public event for the first time after her husband Will Smith smacked Chris Rock across the face at the Oscars a couple of weeks ago.
The 50-year-old actress came out to support her friends Shonda Rhimes and Debbie Allen for the grand opening of the Rhimes Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles on Saturday. While on the red carpet, she posed in a glitter gold strapless dress alongside the two ladies, Samuel L. Jackson, and his wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson. You can ch-ch-check out the stunning pictures obtained by TMZ HERE.
Related: Chris Rock Says He Won’t Talk About Oscars Slap Until He Gets ‘Paid’
According to TMZ, Jada and Will actually have a connection to the establishment as there are several studios inside meant for the Debbie Allen Dance Academy – one of which is named in honor of the couple. Following the event, Jada took to Instagram on Sunday to praise Debbie and Shonda for their accomplishment in two separate posts. She first wrote:
“@therealdebbieallen said wrap it all in gold and come let the kids fill your soul Congrats Debbie on the opening of your Debbie Allen Dance Academy @officialdadance! You are the legacy that the so many other legacies will stand upon. Thank you for ALL that you do.”
The Red Table Talk host then added in another post:
“Big shout out to @shondarhimes for helping the dreams of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy to become a reality. #DADA”
Jada’s appearance at the event comes just days after it was announced that Will is banned from attending the Academy Awards for the next 10 years after slapping Chris on stage. As you know, the King Richard actor decided to hit the comedian when he made a poor taste joke about Jada’s shaved head. Since Jada suffers from the hair loss condition alopecia, Will didn’t appreciate the remark from Chris – at all.
His brother Kenny Rock told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that the Madagascar actor did not know about Jada’s condition before busting out the joke at the Oscars:
“The joke was funny. It wasn’t hilarious funny, but I know that if he knew that she had alopecia … he wouldn’t make a joke about that.”
And as for how he felt about seeing his sibling being struck, Kenny commented:
“It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
For her part, Jada seemingly broke her silence on the matter, asking for “healing” in a post to the ‘gram. But beyond that, she has remained tight-lipped. It’ll be interesting to see as Jada steps out more and more if she’ll speak on the infamous slap. We’ll have to see!
[Image via Jada Pinkett Smith/Instagram, WENN, ABC7/YouTube]