It should come as little surprise that Jada Pinkett Smith is a woman who just gets it. The day after her 42nd birthday, E! noted that Smith took to her official Facebook page to deliver some wisdom, and confess to having battled addiction, like many young stars today.
...when I was younger I was not a good problem solver, meaning I had a very difficult time with dealing with my problems in life. I had many addictions, of several kinds, to deal with my life issues, but today, at 42, I have my wisdom, my heart and my conscience as the only tools to overcome life's inevitable obstacles. I have become a good problem solver with those tools, and I am damn proud.
Unfortunately, women above the age of 40 get a bad rep in Hollywood. If they're too attractive at that age, they're accused of plastic surgery. If they're not garnering roles like they used to (a construct of the Hollywood machine itself) they're accused of being sad and desperate. If they speak they're minds on social media, they're accused of simply trying to get attention.
Luckily, those tendencies are slowly dying down, making way for mature actresses to take the high road and speak their minds, own up to their past failures, and participate in the dialog about their lives and careers, rather than simply letting it wash over them.
Smith is one of those actresses. Without fanfare or much ado, she elegantly opens up about the things she's worked through, briefly mentioning addiction without going into great detail. We don't need to know what she struggled with, we just need to know she came out on the other side.
Smith's not angling to rile folks up by walking us through her past issues — that's not the point. Her point appears to be that while we're all floundering around in our youth, experimenting, hurting, and learning, the pursuits of today aren't all we're after. Growth, understanding, and strength is what we should take from our youth.
If only more of our beloved Hollywood heavyweights could offer such grounded perspective.
