Pinkett Smith gets emotional discussing the devastating impact of alopecia in exclusive clips from Wednesday's 'Red Table Talk.'
The Red Table Talk is digging deep into the impact of alopecia -- and getting emotional. In these exclusive clips from Wednesday's episode, Jada Pinkett Smith and her co-hosts, Willow Smith and Adrienne "Gammy" Banfield-Norris sit down with Niki Ball, the mother of 12-year-old Rio Allred, who suffered from alopecia and took her own life after being relentlessly mocked and bullied.
In the first clip, Niki walks the hosts through the morning of March 14, when she found her daughter. Niki, who also has a 7-year-old daughter named Avry, noted that her two girls shared a room at the time and that initially, it was a morning like any other.
"I thought it was weird that the lamp was still on," she recalled, tearing up. "Then I kind of got this weird [feeling like] 'something is wrong.' So then I went all the way into her room and she had hung herself with a pair of jeans from her loft bed."
The second clip follows Niki's retelling of the tragic morning, as Jada asks the mother how the family is healing in the aftermath of Rio's death. Niki admits that she still worries about her family, sharing that they are "all in this fog."
"I feel like I have to stay strong," she added, saying that she finds it difficult to talk to Avry about the death of her older sister. "You can't see that grief monster's there, but you know they're there and they're just gonna come grab you at any second... How do you sit down and tell your 7-year-old, a) that her sister is gone but b) by her own hand?"
The episode is a particularly poignant one for the hosts of Red Table Talk. Jada has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia, even opening up about her hair journey during a September 2021 episode of RTT. The 50-year-old actress told guests Tiffany Haddish and Yvonne Orji that her decision to shave her head came from a readiness for "that kind of expression and release." She shared that the cut gave her a sense of "freedom," making her feel more connected to herself and "the great Divine in a special way."
Jada first addressed her struggles with alopecia back in 2018, speaking on her Facebook Watch show about the moment she first noticed she was losing hair.
"It was terrifying when it first started," Jada shared. "I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, 'Oh my god, am I going bald?'"
Jada had found a treatment to slow down the hair loss but admitted that she was open to "other ideas" at the time.
"I'm getting my little steroid injections, and they seem to be helping, but not curing, but they seem to be helping, but I'm open to other ideas," she said.
More recently, Jada's condition was thrown into the spotlight during the now-infamous incident during the 94th Academy Awards, where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face after he made a joke about Jada's shaved head.
"Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it," Rock said during his bit, prompting Jada to roll her eyes at the joke. Moments later, after Rock quipped that that was "a nice [joke]" after being met with some uncomfortable reaction from the audience, the comedian was met with Will's open-handed slap to his cheek.
In the weeks following the incident, Will publicly apologized to Rock and resigned from the Academy. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Will would be banned from attending any Academy events -- in person or virtually -- for a decade.
Jada acknowledged the incident in a subtle, shorter manner, posting a quote on Instagram that read, "This is a season for healing and I'm here for it." A source told ET that Jada "was glad that Will stood up for her" and that she "was hurt by Chris' remark."
Red Table Talk's new episode on alopecia will stream Wednesday, June 1 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET on Facebook Watch.
RELATED CONTENT
