Jada Pinkett Smith Speaks Out Against Date Rape and Sexual Assault After Her Niece Was Drugged

Actress lends her voice to a very serious cause

By Brett Malec Jul 22, 2014 6:01 PMTags
Jada Pinkett Smith, TCAFrederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Jada Pinkett Smith is lending her voice to a serious and very important cause.

Following a scary family incident in which her niece was drugged, the 42-year-old actress is speaking out against date rape and sexual assault against women.

"My niece was given a date rape drug that weekend," Pinkett Smith told reporters at her Fox TCA Gotham panel recently. "She's 20 years old—thank God nothing happened because she was with some responsible guys that took care of her...She was safe because she was with a group of friends that realized. She said, 'Oh, my god, I can't feel my...' and she started losing consciousness."

"I had my niece sit down with my daughter [Willow Smith] and a couple of her friends and tell her about that experience," Pinkett Smith went on. "It's one thing to sit with me as her mother. It's like, 'OK, mom, yeah, I get that.' But when you have your 20-year-old cousin that comes in, and she's like, 'This is what happened,' and it was somebody you looked up to as well, it's like, 'Oh, man, this is really real.'"

"There is an epidemic going on out here in regards to the treatment of women," she added. "We have to figure out how we can empower people in different ways.

"I give her the opportunity to be empowered by having herself first, because when 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'll never have to look in the eyes of a man and question whether it's a yes or a no, she's going to be very clear."