Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac: what is the truth of their relationship?

Jada Pinkett Smith, 52, made some surprising revelations regarding her relationship with Tupac. What really went on between Jada and, as she herself described, her ‘soulmate’ before he was gunned down in 1996?

At the beginning of October 2023, the actress confessed that the two were ‘soulmates’ in an interview with Christal Jordan for Rolling Out. But not the kind of lovey, romantic soulmates as one might expect to hear the word in context.

Photo: Instagram / enchantedpr

Tupac actually wrote a song entitled ‘Jada’ that contains the lyrics ‘U will never fully understand How Deeply my Heart Feels 4 u’, followed by sexual references. However, he ends the song with the line ‘A Friend I could never replace’. So what really were they to each other?

Well, as Jaden (Jada’s son with Will Smith) confessed on Big Boy in 2022, his mum had said they were ‘best friends’. This, however, was allegedly in response to Tupac proposing to the actress. So was there stronger feelings from Tupac’s side?

Jada certainly didn’t have romance on her mind and has reiterated to many that her and Shakur’s relationship was platonic, despite the odd kiss ‘attempt’ which she described as “disgusting” in an interview with Howard Stern. The actress said there was ‘no physical chemistry between them at all’.

They had met at Baltimore School for the Arts in Maryland and became best friends, spending most of high school together in the mid 80s.

Jada and Tupac Shakur had instantly hit it off and had a deep connection. Jada told Howard Stern in 2022, “I had never in my life met a person like ‘pac… He had so much charisma”.

Tupac went on to musical success, having now been recognised as one of the most influential artists in the history of hip hop; with songs like ‘Dear Mama’ and ‘California Love’.

Jada moved on to success in acting, appearing in a number of well-respected films and starring in ‘Girls Trip’, ‘Scream’ and series ‘Gotham’. ‘Time’ named her within the world’s most 100 influential people in 2021.

Despite each other’s successes, both still continued to rely on each other. They introduced each other to those on their side of their respective businesses and ‘always looking out for each other’, as Jada told Entertainment Weekly.

She then met Will Smith and they got married - but there was something bubbling beneath the surface. Will Smith had said that he was jealous of Jada’s relationship with Tupac, explaining the feelings in his 2021 memoir: “I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”

The pair continued to be great friends until Tupac started going down a darker side. He ended up in prison and served 8 months of his four-year sentence for sexually abusing a fan. Jada did not like the way he was going and told Howard Stern that they were ‘on two sides of the spectrum’.

And yet, the actress posted $100,000 bail in 1994, according to the NY post. But she then goes on to explain that the rapper had ‘changed quite a bit’ after doing his time and things were never the same again.

“I just wasn’t in agreement with the direction he was taking”, she told Howard Stern in 2015. In return, Tupac told her that she had ‘got Hollywood’. Leaving the pair angry at each other.

They remained at odds until his death in 1996 when he was shot waiting at traffic lights in a car. Pinkett Smith told Howard Stern that, despite not being able to become friends again before his sad demise, she was confident that he knew the deep feeling she had toward him never waned.

“I don’t think I was guilty as much as I felt just sadness for not having the opportunity to tell him I love him, but I know he knew that,” she said to broadcaster Howard Stern.

Photo: TODAY with Hoda Kotb (2023)

Perhaps their relationship goes into more detail in Jada Pinkett Smith’s new memoir, released on 17th October 2023. There has been a lot of press surrounding the pair, including more recent statements where Jada also shared Tupac suffered from alopecia as well.

“I don’t think Tupac ever talked about the alopecia he suffered from,” she told People in October when she was given the front cover of the publication. She said his illness was onset due to police violence in Northern California in 1991 when he was arrested for jaywalking and allegedly ‘beaten up’ but the officers.

The pair seem to have known everything about each other for most of Tupac’s life and, despite there being no romantic connection, it is clear the two did have something deeper. “It was almost like God made us that way. It’s like, ‘Look, we’ll put y’all together, alright? Y’all gonna be a dynamic duo,” the actress confirmed that the higher power did not want them to be lovers - just the best of friends.