Jada Pinkett Smith responds after fans of her popular show compare her to Oprah Winfrey.
The 47-year-old star has been compared to the television icon thanks to the success of her “Red Table Talk” series on Facebook Watch, and while she’s “honored” by the praise she has received, Pinkett Smith doesn’t think she’s in the same “category” at the moment.
She told “Entertainment Tonight”: “There’s only one Oprah. This is like an evolution, Oprah is her own thing… I think [I’m] in a whole other category.
“I feel good to be able to create a platform that we can have these conversations that we’re having.
“I feel really, really honored. I feel like it’s something I’m meant to do. So it’s a good feeling.”
Pinkett Smith was honored with the Trailblazer prize at the MTV Movies & TV Awards on Saturday night, June 15, 2019 — which was broadcast on Monday, June 17 — and she insisted there should be more recognition put on people coping with “uncertainty, false beliefs and pain.”
Speaking to the audience as she started her speech, she said: “Often we applaud the trails people blaze in the external world that we can see, but very rarely do we applaud the trails that are blazed in the hidden rooms of the mind that are full of uncertainty, false beliefs, and pain.
“And it’s these internal obstacles that must be challenged in order to muster the courage to forge new paths that we can see in the world.”
Pinkett Smith dedicated her award to “every single person” in attendance who has overcome their own personal struggles.
The “Gotham” actress added: “And then I thought a little more deeply. I was thinking, every last person in this room must do that at some capacity.
“So that means that every single person in this room is trailblazing, whether it’s within or without.
“So as you honor me tonight, I want to honor all of you. And I want to say, here’s to us for all of our trailblazing. Keep it up, and thank you!”
