OK, so it goes without saying, that Jada Pinkett Smith knows a lil' bit about money. She's worth [redacted] millions of dollars, her husband is worth [redacted, redacted] millions of dollars, and her kids keep chips on them too. So, at her caliber and status, she can probably rap "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" with more conviction than Mase, Puff, or Biggie ever could.
And Jada wasn't shy about expressing any of it on the latest, and final, Red Table Talk episode of the season. When a caller reached out to ask how she deals with giving money to family and friends, well...sis went in.
"So, I came up with a couple rules for myself. First of all, I don't lend money. I only give money that I'm willing to give away, like, 'this is a gift.' I do not lend money because that turns into a lot of problems just as far as the expectation of people paying back. So, I tend to not give where I can't just say, 'here's a gift for you.' Specifically people who are really close to me because I'm not trying to have fallouts over money."
She continued:
"And then the next thing is, when someone really needs help, I really evaluate it to see if the person is ready for that help. So, if somebody is like, 'I want a new house' but they don't have a job to support the house they're trying to buy, it's like, well, you're not ready for that. So, I'm not about to help you get into something that ultimately is going to make more difficulty for you."
Clearly, she may be on to something as Oprah echoed her sentiments before where, in a video interview with O Magazine, she said she also doesn't lend money: "Just have it as a standard policy: Don't loan friends money," she says before Gayle interjects with: "But Oprah, what if your friend is in trouble?" Oprah answered:
"Give your friend the money and say, 'Look, I'm just gonna do this for you, you don't even have to pay me back.' 'Cause loaning friends money will cause you major issues in the friendship."
Whew.
Overall, Pinkett Smith has no problem with helping with friends and family, as long as the situation falls within her own boundaries. And she makes it clear that her boundaries are the only thing that matters when it comes to giving money.
"I would say for people like us who came from backgrounds where we didn't have much, the biggest thing is don't feel guilty because we got our grind on. You don't owe nobody nothing. Don't feel guilty. I've spent so many years feeling guilty, and my guilt made me feel like I owed everybody and I wasn't allowed to say 'no.' And that's just not true, right?"
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Featured image via Jada Pinkett Smith/Instagram