Jada Pinkett Smith celebrated her birthday on Friday, September 18, and to mark the occasion, she posted an unseen family photo from her childhood.
Jada Pinkett Smith Celebrates Her 55th Birthday
The actress shared the photo on Instagram of herself posing for a portrait with her mom, aunt, and cousins. They are all wearing outfits that have yellow in them. In the caption, Pinkett Smith shared her thoughts, writing, “I’m 55 today. My Aunt Karen (in the yellow shirt) sent me this pic of me, my Aunt Sondra, Mommie, my cousins Garth, Jason and Brett. I had never seen this pic and it made my heart burst with gratitude and love. It also reminded me that I’ve never been photogenic.”
Pinkett Smith then thanked her fans for their love. “Thank you to you all for the Birthday love. I feel it all and I’m happy! Love,” she concluded.
Fans flooded the comment section of the post with their thoughts, wishing Pinkett Smith a happy birthday and sending her some love. “First of all— EVERYONE looks alike in the very best way. LOL! This is precious on every level. Happy Birthday to you!” a fan shared.
Fans also remarked on the striking similarities between Pinkett Smith and her cousins. “The cutest pic! I see about 4 or 5 copy & paste situations! Almost everyone has the same face!” a comment reads. “Me trying to figure out which one is her,” another fan wrote.
Other reactions include “Great wardrobe though,” “The genes in this family… everyone is gorgeous! Happy Birthday,” and “Family photos are everything, and you are cracking me up in this one. And you definitely are photogenic.” Pinkett Smith’s daughter, Willow Smith, also reacted to the post with three heart-eye emojis. She also shared the photo on her Instagram Stories and included a red heart emoji and a crying emoji.
Jada Pinkett Smith’s Childhood
Pinkett Smith has given a glimpse into her relationship with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, when the pair joined forces for the Facebook Watch chat show, “Red Table Talk.”
Banfield-Norris also discussed her daughter’s childhood and what was missing from their relationship. “One of the things that was so missing in my relationship with my mother and with Jada was just touch,” she said on “Red Table Talk,” E! News reports. “Very rarely will you see Jada and I even touch, hug.”
Pinkett Smith confirmed that it feels “awkward” when they do hug. “It’s awkward because we didn’t hug in our family,” she said. “We knew we were loved, but it just wasn’t that kind of nurturing touch.” That pattern has not continued with Banfield-Norris and her granddaughter Willow, who have openly shown affection. “But that was different for her,” Pinkett Smith said. “She never cuddled with me.”
Adrienne Banfield-Norris Was a Young Mother
Banfield-Norris fell pregnant with Pinkett Smith when she was a teenager in her last year of high school. “It was a disgrace to the family,” Banfield-Norris said in an interview with Jackie’s Point of V Podcast, People reports. “So I married very young. I married when I was still in high school.”
Pinkett Smith grew up in a household where her mother experienced violence and her father, Robsol Pinkett Jr., was an addict. He died from an overdose in 2010, People reports.
