Jada Pinkett Smith Admits To Dealing Drugs as a Teen in Tell-All Memoir

When it comes to sharing her life story, Jada Pinkett Smith is leaving no stone unturned. She's opening up about her childhood, suicidal ideation, alopecia, her marriage, the 2022 Oscars, and more in her explosive tell-all memoir, Worthy. The book hits the shelves on Oct. 17 with Dey Street Books.

In a conversation with People, Pinkett Smith shared several intimate details of her origin story — including that she used to deal drugs as a teen.

Growing up, the budding actor sometimes lived with her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris, who was a "high-functioning heroin addict."

Other times she would live in the "pristine" home of her maternal grandmother, Marion. Her father, Robsol Pinkett Jr., had violent tendencies and filtered in and out of her life. He died in 2010.

While she'd held several "legitimate" jobs since she was 12, Pinkett Smith recognized the affluence and success people in her neighborhood earned for dealing drugs.

So, by day, she attended the Baltimore School for the Arts as a promising student — alongside her close friend, Tupac Shakur — and began her stint as a drug-selling "queen pin" by night.

"I knew that anything I needed was something I needed to provide for," the actor said. "I decided to sell drugs."

Pinkett Smith graduated from high school, then spent a year at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She'd then move to Los Angeles to begin her career, quickly nabbing guest roles in shows like Bill Cosby's 1991 sitcom A Different World and Menace II Society.

As her career skyrocketed, she would meet Will Smith on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The two married in 1997 and share two children, Jaden and Willow. Recently, Pinkett Smith has acknowledged she and Will have been living separately for six years.

Upon reflection, the 52-year-old actor and mother realized the hurt she brought to her community by dealing — despite the financial stability and independence it brought her at the time.

"That was my solution at that particular time to survive. And it really helped me. But it put me into a lot of danger and I hurt a lot of people along the way."

Worthy is out Tuesday.