Adrienne Banfield-Norris was just 15 when she fell pregnant with Jada Pinkett Smith. As a result, the then-high school student married Jada’s father, Robsol Pinkett Jr., but the marriage lasted just a few months. The relationship was short but plenty long to cause lingering trauma. In a November 2018 episode of “Red Table Talk,” Banfield-Norris opened up about the domestic abuse she suffered during those years, the scars of which she carries to this day.
The large one on her back — acquired when Robsol threw her over a banister — is the reason Jada knows her mother endured violence at her father’s hand. “As a child, I was just curious. I was like, ‘Oh, Mommy, what’s that? What’s that?'” Pinkett Smith described. Willow Smith — who knew her grandfather before he died in 2010 — had never heard of Banfield-Norris’s experience of domestic violence until they filmed the episode.
Read Related Also: Another Premier Business Bails Out of Violent and 'Hostile' San Francisco
Banfield-Norris also suffered another type of physical abuse during her relationship. “I have [had non-consensual sex], but it was also with my husband. Your dad, actually,” she revealed in an October 2020 “Red Table Talk” episode. Banfield-Norris may have been young, but she was courageous enough to gather her daughter and leave him. “I actually ran for my life,” she said in the 2018 clip. For most of his violent outbursts, Robsol was under the influence. It doesn’t excuse his behavior, she said, but it made things that much worse.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
