Jada Pinkett Smith is crusading against rape and sexual assault after her niece was recently drugged — but fortunately not harmed.
Earlier this month, the actress addressed the topic when a teenager named Jada was drugged and raped in Houston, with the incident becoming a huge national story and #JusticeForJada trending on Twitter.
“This could be you, me, or any woman or girl that we know. What do we plan to do about this ugly epidemic? #justiceforjada,” wrote Pinkett Smith.
But while promoting “Gotham” at a Television Critics Association event this weekend, the star shared a story that hit even closer to home.
“My niece was given a date rape drug that weekend,” she told reporters. “She’s 20 years old – thank God nothing happened because she was with some responsible guys that took care of her.”
Pinkett Smith noted, “She was safe because she was with a group of friends that realized – she said, ‘Oh, my god, I can’t feel my…,’ and she started losing consciousness.”
The actress asked her niece to sit down with Pinkett Smith’s 13-year-old daughter Willow and some of her friends to share her harrowing experience.
“It’s one thing to sit with me as her mother,” explained the star. “It’s like ‘Okay, Mom, yeah, I get that.’ But when you have your 20-year-old cousin that comes in, and she’s like, ‘This is what happened,’ and it was somebody you looked up to as well, it’s like, ‘Oh, man, this is really real.’”
She observed, “There is an epidemic going on out here in regards to the treatment of women.”
Pinket Smith added, “We have to figure out how we can empower people in different ways.”
