Will Smith Describes Jealousy of Tupac in New Memoir; “He Was ‘PAC and I Was Me”

In his new memoir, Will, rapper-turned-blockbuster actor Will Smith talked about the jealousy he felt when considering the close relationship famed rapper Tupac Shakur had with his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith.

Smith said he felt “raging jealousy,” according to Revolt and a number of other outlets.

Smith wrote in the memoir: “Though they were never intimate, their love for each other is legendary—they define ‘ride or die,’” he wrote. “In the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection. He was ‘PAC and I was me.”

Earlier this year, Pinkett Smith described having to keep the two apart. (Love triangles, sigh.)

Smith added in the memoir: “‘Pac was like Harry [a person referenced earlier in the book]— he triggered the perception of myself as a coward. I hated that I wasn’t what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”

Smith says that once he and Pinkett became an item, it felt like a “twisted kind of victory” for him. He added: “If she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward. I have rarely felt more validated. I was in a room with Tupac on multiple occasions, but I never spoke to him. The way Jada loved ‘Pac rendered me incapable of being friends with him. I was too immature.”

Pinkett and Tupac famously met at Arts school in high school in Baltimore. They were both accomplished students at the Baltimore School for the Arts. The two have maintained they were never romantic, but they were, as Smith said, “ride or die” close.

In Will, Smith, who has enjoyed a recent renaissance as a social media dad, also talked about grappling with depression and dealing with suicidal thoughts.

Along with their parents, the Smith children, Willow and Jaden, have grown into accomplished artists, too.

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