Jada Pinkett Smith reveals if she still lives with husband Will Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith talks with USA TODAY’s Erin Jensen about the revelations surrounding her husband Will Smith in her new memoir, “Worthy.”
Will Smith is embroiled in an ongoing legal battle between his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and ex-friend Bilal Salaam.
The latest filing in the case reveals a July 7 email exchange in which Salaam, who is suing Pinkett Smith, 54, for $3 million for intentional infliction of emotional distress, requested the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alum, 57, to testify in a deposition, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY.
Pinkett Smith’s attorney, Courtney L. Pritzky, pushed back, writing, “There is nothing to meet and discuss regarding Will Smith’s proposed deposition. Mr. Smith is not a party to this litigation.”
He added that Salam, who is representing him, “must follow applicable procedures for obtaining discovery from non-parties,” including the issuance of subpoenas. However, “to our knowledge, no subpoena has been served on Mr. Smith,” Pritzky wrote.
The exchange was included in the former “Red Table Talk” host’s July 15 motion asking Salaam to provide additional evidence, including “medical records supporting the physical and mental injuries for which he is seeking millions of dollars in damages.”
Why would Bilal Salaam sue Jada Pinkett Smith?
Salaam filed the lawsuit in November alleging that Pinkett-Smith threatened him multiple times, according to an official complaint previously obtained by USA TODAY.
The alleged incidents included one at Smith’s private birthday gathering in 2021, during which Salaam claimed that Pinkett Smith and “seven of her inner circle” told her that if she continued to talk about her “personal business,” she would “be lost or get shot.”
Another incident allegedly occurred in 2022, when Salaam said he was asked to help with “crisis management” after that year’s Oscars, when Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage after the comedian made a comment about Pinkett Smith. Salam refused, accusing the couple of starting a “revenge campaign” against him, but things worsened when he learned Salam was writing a memoir about his experiences with his family.
After Salaam spoke about them in a public interview in November 2023, Pinkett Smith claimed in her own interview that Salaam had attempted a “financial raid” to extort her and her husband. She also announced her intention to sue Salam.
When Pinkett Smith filed her complaint several years later, she countersued, citing California’s anti-SLAPP law. She argued that each of Mr. Salam’s causes of action arose from “protected activities,” including his alleged public disclosure of the contents of the Ceasefire Agreement.
Pinkett Smith’s complaint was partially granted in April, and “all claims related to public media statements” were struck from Salaam’s complaint. The judge also ordered her to repay a total of $32,836 in attorney fees incurred in the fight.
Salaam is still seeking $3 million in damages, along with interest, legal costs and a public retraction of “false and defamatory” statements he claims Pinkett-Smith made about him. The judge denied the request for trial and set the next trial date for August 19th.
