Jada Pinkett Smith spoke up against date rape and sexual assault following a family member\u2019s incident. During FOX\u2019s TCA panel for the upcoming \u201cGotham\u201d series in Los Angeles, the actress opened up about her niece\u2019s close call with date rape after the girl was drugged. \nThe timeframe of her niece\u2019s ordeal took place while #justiceforjada was trending on Twitter in early July. The hashtag was a reaction to an incident in which a 16-year-old girl named Jada was drugged and raped. Smith wrote on her Facebook at the time, \u201cThis could be you, me, or any woman or girl that we know. What do we plan to do about this ugly epidemic?#justiceforjada\u201d
\n\u201cMy niece was given a date rape drug that weekend,\u201d the 42-year-old actress revealed, \u201cshe\u2019s 20 years old- thank God nothing happened because she was with some responsible guys that took care of her.\u201d
\nThe actress continued, \u201cShe was safe because she was with a group of friends that realized- she said, \u2018Oh, my god, I can\u2019t feel my…\u2019 and she started losing consciousness.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is an epidemic going on out here in regards to the treatment of women. We have to figure out how we can empower people in different ways,\u201d Smith observed.
\nThe actress then shared her experience working to educate her 13-year-old daughter, Willow Smith. She explained, \u201cI had my niece sit down with my daughter and a couple of her friends and tell her about that experience.\u201d
\nShe went on, \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to sit with me as her mother- It\u2019s like \u2018Okay, Mom, yeah, I get that.\u2019 But when you have your 20-year-old cousin that comes in, and she\u2019s like, \u2018This is what happened,\u2019 and it was somebody you looked up to as well, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, man, this is really real.\u2019 \u201c
\nSmith said that she tried to empower her teenage daughter by trusting her as an individual. She explained, \u201cWhen you allow a person to be an individual and you allow a person to have power within and have confidence with who they are, she\u2019ll never have to look in the eyes of a man and question whether it\u2019s a \u2018yes\u2019 or a \u2018no\u2019 – she\u2019s going to be very clear.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"