Jada Pinkett Smith Admitted She Wasn’t Happy for 47 Years: How She Finally Cracked the Secret to Happiness

It may have taken Jada Pinkett Smith a long time to truly feel happy, but she finally found her way there after 47 years. In a 2019 interview, she explained what she meant when she said she was finally happy after all those years.

Jada Pinkett Smith admitted she had a long journey to happiness

During a 2019 Red Table Talk, titled “What Men Really Think About Love,” Pinkett Smith and her guests, rapper Wale and actor Justin Baldoni, discussed the search for love and what men are seeking and need in relationships.

Towards the end of their talk, Pinkett Smith revealed how she and husband Will Smith have a partnership and have weathered their fair share of storms together. She also revealed that it was the first time she really had felt happy.

“At the end of the day, to know that you have another person that can love you for all that you are… Will has loved me through the worst of myself,” Pinkett Smith said. “And I have done the same. When somebody can love you in that way, it makes your faith in the world come together.”

“I am 47-years-old and I want you to know, that this is probably the first year of my life that I can say, ‘I am happy,’ because that’s how long the journey has been,” she added.

Jada Pinkett Smith revealed how she finally found happiness

The quote about it taking so long for her to find happiness was of interest to The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who asked her during a 2019 appearance, “Why did it take so long and what did you mean by that?”

Pinkett Smith acknowledged how she finally shifted her definition of happiness and what really clicked for her.

“I really thought happiness had a lot to do with pleasure, and I realized that happiness is about peace,” she explained. “I am the most peaceful I’ve ever been in my life, so I am the happiest.”

She once shared how she overcame depression

During a 2018 Red Table Talk discussion about mental health, Pinkett Smith revealed how even though she was successful early in her career she was “severely depressed.” She tried medication and therapy, both of which she admitted weren’t successful for her.  

“Once I got off the Prozac, I went on a long, long, long journey,” the actor explained. “I learned how to manage it to a certain degree but it was a struggle.”

She continued, “I just had to find my path, which is why it probably took as long as it did. Now, thankfully, I don’t get depressed. I also think that I had to uproot some false beliefs.”

“I had to just let go and just come to terms with just what life is,” she added.