Jada Pinkett Smith Pushed Will Smith to Apologize to Chris Rock for 2022 Oscars Drama: ‘He Never Wanted To’

usmagazine.com:

His wife’s advice. Following Will Smith‘s emotional video about his incident with Chris Rock at the Oscars, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly that the decision was inspired by Jada Pinkett Smith.“Jada has also been pushing Will to apologize because it has become this really dark cloud over her Red Table Talk series,” the insider shares with Us, noting Smith, 53, “never wanted to” publicly apologize but there was a constant wait for “any mention of that moment.”According to the source, Smith has been “in hell” due to the backlash following the altercation. “His team had hoped that the controversy would die down, but it just hasn’t,” the insider adds. “It would be impossible for him to move forward successfully unless he [addressed the slap].”Late last month, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum took to social media to share a video addressing the situation. “It’s been a minute … Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and personal work … You asked a lot of fair questions that I wanted to take some time to answer,” the text read ahead of the clip, which was posted via Instagram on Friday, July 29.In the lengthy upload, Smith opened up about feeling remorseful for his actions. “I’ve spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment,” he explained. “I’m not gonna try to unpack all of that right now.

But I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment. There’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”The Oscar winner also noted that he attempted to get in contact with Rock, 57, adding, “The message that came back is that he’s