Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur were very similar, which made their friendship strong. One fact that wasn’t publicly known until 2023 was that the “Hit Em Up” rapper suffered from alopecia, like Pinkett Smith. According to the National Institute of Health, alopecia is “a disease that happens when the immune system attacks hair follicles and causes hair loss.” When you picture Shakur or see images of the late rapper, his usual look includes a bandana on his shaved head. While people may have thought being bald was a style choice for Shakur, it might not have been.
Pinkett Smith told People that after being arrested by the Oakland Police Department in 1991, he began experiencing hair loss. She shared, “After he was in Northern California with the police officers that beat him up, he started losing his hair. And his alopecia patterns were far more extreme than mine.” It’s unclear what parts of his body his medical condition affected the “California Love” rapper, but Pinkett Smith explained it deeply impacted the musician.
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As for why Shakur never spoke out about it, the “Matrix” actor believes he was embarrassed. She shared, “I don’t think Pac ever talked about his alopecia, but he also looked really good with a bald head. But that was during a time and during an era that you wouldn’t — he just wouldn’t talk about it.”
