Will Smith's reaction to Chris Rock's on-stage remark about his wife Jada has dominated coverage of the 2022 Oscars, but it wasn't the first joke made about the couple during the ceremony.
Earlier in the night, co-host Regina Hall made a joke about the couple's open marriage during a skit.
The Little actress mentioned the Smiths during a segment in which she joked about conducting COVID-19 tests for certain audience members. The squad of actors chosen to jump on stage included Bradley Cooper, Timothee Chalamet and Simu Liu, and as they assembled it became clear that the chosen candidates were all single — and Hall's Hollywood crushes.
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"Will Smith, you're married, but you're on the list," Hall quipped. "Looks like Jada approved it!"
Jada laughed hysterically while Will looked slightly embarrassed. "Get on up here," Hall continues, trying to get the King Richard star on stage with her. The actor jokingly gestured "no" with his hands and stayed put.
Hall was seemingly referencing the couple's admissions they haven't always had a monogamous relationship. In an interview with GQ in September 2021, Will said, "Jada never believed in conventional marriage … Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship, so she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up."
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Will said their relationship was initially monogamous, but has changed as they got older: "There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection?" he continued. "And for the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection."
In 2020, the couple — who married in 1997 — admitted they momentarily split after Jada had an "entanglement" with singer August Alsina.
"It was a relationship, absolutely," she explained during an episode of Red Table Talk. "We actually became really, really good friends. And it all started with him just needing help, me wanting to help his health, his mental state."
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Though the duo eventually came back together, Will revealed he was briefly worried their marriage wouldn't be able to endure the scandal: "I really felt like we could be over."
However, a year later, the actor implied his wife wasn't the only one in the couple that took advantage of their open marriage.
"The public has a narrative that is impenetrable," he told GQ. "Once the public decides something, it's difficult to impossible to dislodge the pictures and ideas and perceptions."
Hall's cheeky jibe about the Smiths received a distinctly different reaction to Chris Rock's quip about Jada later in the show.
When Rock made a joke about Jada being 'the next G.I Jane', Will stormed the stage and slapped the comedian across the face.
It's believed the comment was a reference to Jada's bald head; the actress has spoken publicly about her struggle with hair loss as a result of the condition alopecia.
"Keep my wife's name out of your f--king mouth," he shouted when he returned to his seat.
Moments later, he returned to the stage to accept the award for Best Actor, speaking about the importance of "protecting" one's family and apologising to the Academy in an emotionally charged speech.
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Title: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett laughed off Regina Hall's joke about them before Chris Rock incident
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/oscars-2020-will-smith-jada-pinkett-regina-hall-joke-open-marriage/6a21b189-470c-4ef5-bcba-e82fd4f5d89d
Published Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2022 04:03:00 GMT
