Jada Pinkett Smith’s Mom Talks About Overcoming Heroin Addiction

Earlier this year, Jada Pinkett Smith teamed up with Facebook to release a video series called Red Table Talk — a confessional talk show starring Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow Smith, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones. Each week, the three women sit down — sometimes with special guests — to candidly talk about topics like body image, motherhood, and even sex.

In the latest episode of Red Table Talk, the topic was addiction and Jada’s mother shared her own struggles with drugs. According to People, the 64-year-old admitted that she wrestled with a heroin addiction for 20 years before finally overcoming her struggle and getting sober 27 years ago.

“This was not an easy decision. It’s difficult to talk about something that is gonna go out to the world,” Banfield-Jones managed to say through tears as the emotional episode began. “I couldn’t hide the unmanageability of my life, and the emotional damage and the spiritual damage I did to myself and to her [Jada]. That was devastating. I abused drugs for over 20 years.”

From there, Jada shared her side of the story and how growing up, she didn’t realize her mother was struggling with addiction until she was well into her teenage years.

https://www.facebook.com/redtabletalk/videos/606246693108143/

“I think I didn’t find out my mother was addicted to heroin until I was in my teens,” she said. “I could tell when my mother was high. She couldn’t make it on time to pick me up from school. Or she’s nodding off, falling asleep in the middle of something. You just realize, oh, that’s not being tired, that is like, a drug problem.”

Banfield-Jones says she it took the love of a man she had been interested in to nudge her into the direction of getting clean. She later added that at some point, she realized she had to do it for herself, and decided to lean into religion to help her along her sober path.

Pinkett Smith also got real about her own addictions, as was previously reported by the Inquisitr. The actress revealed that she has dealt with a number of addictions over the years but her addiction to sex was her biggest struggle.

The episode also featured guest appearances from singer August Alsina and Will Smith’s sister Ashley — who were both open and honest about their own vices. Alsina discussed his addiction with Percocet and Ashley talked about her issues with marijuana.