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Jada Pinkett Smith
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Taraji P. Henson, Mo’Nique, Gabrielle Union, and Octavia Spencer. Many Black actresses have been vocal about pay disparity in Hollywood with these women being some of the latest to address the issue. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Henson was transparent about her debating on whether to quit acting. “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the costs,” Henson said in a Sirius XM interview with Gayle King. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ I have to. The math ain’t mathin’.” Henson isn’t the only one who has faced the unfortunate reality of stepping back from being an actress due to Hollywood’s pay gap. During an appearance on NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute,” Jada Pinkett Smith shared that while her “heart broke” for Henson, she was also happy that she was courageous enough to speak up. In addition, she related to her fellow actress’ sentiments, but in...
Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have announced the sale of a minority stake in their production company. Variety reports that the Smiths have closed a deal that sells the minority stake of Westbrook, Inc., a production company, to the as-yet-unnamed media venture that is run by Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, the former executives from Disney. Staggs and Mayer previously made headlines when they purchased Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company for a gobsmacking $900 million. The former Disney executives were represented by mega-financiers The Blackstone Group in the deal. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were previously in talks to sell the production company outright until that deal fell through. The minority stake in Westbrook, Inc., was purchased by the pair for $60 million, for a 10 percent ownership stake. And, Variety reports the deal values Westbrook, Inc. “at just under $600 million.” As AfroTech previously reported, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith...
When Will Smith first exploded onto the scene, he had the “persona” of the “Fresh Prince.” He was also $6 million in debt. In order to get out of debt, he decided to pivot from rapping to acting. “When I moved into acting that was the first time I started applying skill to my talents,” he said. “For me, to be a movie star was the first thing I ever really wanted like that and set my eyes on.” Today, however, Will Smith has turned the entire ship around. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he has a total net worth of $350 million. Most of his net worth comes from his highly successful acting career — including the “Bad Boys” franchise of films — as well as the wide diversity of his investments. Between 1993 and 2013, he made $200 million in movie salaries. He strategically began working with production companies and streaming platforms like Netflix to elevate even further. According to Hollywood Reporter, he boldly and successfully negotiated $27 million upfront when working on the...
Black executives in the entertainment industry are steadily climbing the leadership ladder. According to an exclusive from Variety , Westbrook Media — a digital subsidiary of Westbrook Inc. launched by founders Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez, and Ko Yada — has shared that it’s tapped three seasoned executives — Sterling Milan, Jabari Hearn, and Drew Miles — for senior roles at the company. Seasoned producer Sterling Milan joins the company as the full-time head of original content, following his recent stint as an in-house executive producer, showrunning and directing series and specials for Westbrook Media originals. In a statement shared with Variety , Lukas Kaiser — SVP, head of content at Westbrook Media — said: “I’ve been a friend and a fan of Sterling’s for over a decade — and bringing him on to lead the creative side of production on numerous projects over the past few months has been a joy. We’re thrilled to bring him into the Westbrook Media family to help...