Jada Pinkett Smith, Angelina JolieMichael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
As successful actresses and moms, Jada Pinkett Smith and Angelina Jolie have a lot in common but the pair aren’t typically associated with one another. That said, Jolie was still Pinkett Smith’s first contact when her daughter, Willow, approached her with an idea for a new project.
In her newly-released memoir, Worthy, Pinkett Smith discussed the moment her 12-year-old daughter came to her after learning about the prevalence of human trafficking and forced sex work in the United States.
Jada Pinkett Smith shared with us Will Smith's reaction to her memoir, as he was among the select few who had the opportunity to read it before its official publication. https://t.co/wx4DHw9xLQ
— SheKnows (@SheKnows) October 18, 2023
“Mom, you will not believe what is happening. Did you know there are girls my age being sold for sex in this country?” Pinkett Smith recalls Willow telling her after she did additional research on trafficking after having watched Kony 2012, a documentary about Ugandan children being trafficked and forced to become soldiers under a regime controlled by cult and militia leader Joseph Kony.
Willow had decided to give her voice to the issue and Pinkett Smith opted to work with her daughter but needed to seek external advice first.
“One of my first calls was to Angelina Jolie, then in the trenches on behalf of refugees around the world,” Pinkett Smith writes. Jolie, 48, has long been dedicated humanitarian in issues that impact children, namely child immigrants, sexual violence in war-torn countries and more.
“I had long admired Angelina’s commitment as an activist,” Pinkett Smith writes. “She generously put me in touch with a lawyer named Adam Waldman, who soon introduced me to survivors, whom I met when I visited safe houses around the country.”
Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images
In July 2012, Pinkett Smith testified before Congress to urge lawmakers to create better protections for both the prevention of and recovery from sex trafficking. Pinkett Smith was accompanied by Willow, her husband Will Smith, and survivors who watched her speech.
“We need more adequate funding for programs that can actually, first, protect young women and men who are victims of trafficking and then also the programs that help transition our young people from those traumas into being able to create and develop lives so that they’re not only survivors but they are thriving,” Pinkett Smith told Congress at the time, per ABC News. “These young ladies that are here with us today are young women who are not just surviving but they’re thriving.”
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