Elise Neal claims Will and Jada-Pinkett Smith’s ‘unhappiness’ led to her exiting ‘All of Us’ in the early 2000s. Elise also weighed in on their marriage, which has been under a microscope since August Alsina confessed to having a romance with Jada.
Elise Neal says she quit the sitcom All of Us due to Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith‘s contagious “unhappy” behavior, which led to her being treated “unfairly” on set. Elise, 54, starred in All of Us — a show that was inspired by Will and Jada’s relationship — as “Tia Jewel” from 2003 until her departure in 2005. The show was created and executive produced by both Will, 51, and Jada, 48, and aired from 2003 to 2007 before it was cancelled.
Elise phoned into a virtual interview with Viral Hip Hop News, where she explained that Will and Jada would bring their relationship unhappiness to work, which spread to everyone around them. “Now that’s rough for me,” Elise replied when asked about the recent headlines about Will and Jada’s marriage — following artist August Alsina‘s claim that he had a romantic relationship with Jada during her marriage with Will. Alsina also alleged that Will gave him permission to pursue Jada.
“Everyone knows I was on the ‘All Of Us,’ set, right?” Elisa asked the hosts. “But here’s what I can say, feeling like something is going to pop me upside the head and come out of the blue. If someone is unhappy, they spread that unhappiness to others. I wasn’t happy on that set because people treated me in a way that I could tell that they were unhappy,’ she admitted.
“Bottom line is, they decided what their marriage is going to be. They have decided that a long time ago. I’m not involved in their marriage,” Elise said, explaining that Will and Jada “know what’s going on in their marriage. If they decide that they’re going to come together and that’s the type of marriage that they want and they’re okay with that, we are not able to judge that. What I am going to judge is if I come to work for people and they bring that unhappiness on others, like myself. I felt that and received that on that set. And that’s sad to me,” she explained.
Elise continued, “I am a very hardworking girl. I had just come from doing a successful show for four years with ‘The Hughleys.’ I’ve done tons of movies… a whole lot of stuff before I did that set. I’m coming to that set to work and excited because I’m like, ‘Ayyyee, I’m about to do something with — these people are cool, these people are great. It’s going to be a great, fun environment. I’ve never worked in an environment with these two great individuals.”
The actress went on to admit that she’s got nothing but love for Will, despite her tumultuous time on the set of All of Us. “And I know Will and I love Will. I love Will as an individual. I don’t know a lot about him personally,” she said. “I just know I worked with him and I enjoyed working with him. So I was looking forward to having a very fun work experience. And I’m still sad that it was so not like that.”
“Let’s be clear, I’m talking about that individual set. I have a lot of fun on other sets, okay? I’ve had a lot of fun on a lot of jobs that I’ve done. And a lot of people know that I exited that set early,” Elise said of her departure from the sitcom in 2005. “I’m going to be happy to say yeah, I miss the money but I didn’t miss coming to work not happy. I was not happy because they were not happy. And I wasn’t being treated fair because they weren’t happy,” she admitted.
As for Will and Jada’s unique marriage? — “That’s their choice to do whatever the hell they want to do in that marriage. That’s not even for us to judge,” Elise said, explaining, “But if you bring other entities in, if you have a young man into your relationship and now he’s not happy — or if you have other people that are in the relationship and then they’re happy, but also you come outside and try to do work and you’re working with other individuals and you’re not happy, I just need y’all to find that happy. Leave me alone. I don’t want you to bring that on me because it’s not my fault that you’re not happy.”
Following Alsina’s claims, Jada turned the spotlight on her during a special episode of her Facebook talk show, Red Table Talk on July 17. Jada — who sat across from her husband Will at the Red Table — admitted to having an “entanglement” (which she later clarified was a “relationship”) with Alsina about four and a half years ago. She recalled that their relationship started out as a friendship, but turned into something more when she and Will briefly separated. “[At the time] it was indefinite [that we were broken up],” Jada said, admitting, “We were over.”
Eventually, Jada and Will decided to work on their relationship, to which August cut off all communication with Jada completely.
After Alsina’s claims, Jada’s rep said that the singer’s story was “absolutely not true.” Meanwhile, Will’s rep noted that the report about the actor giving permission to Alsina to pursue Jada was “wrong.”