Will Smith Celebrates Jada Amid Slow Social Media Comeback

It's been nearly half a year since Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars awards after the comedian aimed a joke at the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. On July 29, five months after the incident happened, the "Aladdin" actor posted a nearly six-minute video to his social media accounts, owning up to his actions and apologizing to the comedian.

"Will is feeling much more confident and much more positive and less depressed," a source told Entertainment Tonight after the apology video was posted. "Will was so regretful of the situation and the situation he put his family in with all of the backlash, especially publicly." The insider added that the "Bad Boys" actor is feeling more comfortable going out in public since he's acknowledged his wrongdoings and is continuing to work on himself and repair his image.

At the time the apology video was filmed and released, Smith mentioned that Rock wasn't ready to talk about everything yet. But on September 4, the comedian broke his silence during his stand-up tour with Dave Chappelle. "F*** your hostage video," he reportedly said, via Deadline, aiming his criticism at the actor's video and implying that he's still not ready to let the slap go. But amid the drama between the two, Smith is slowly trying to make a comeback.

On August 19, Will Smith made a return to social media, almost a month after he posted his apology video. The actor posted a video of a gorilla poking another gorilla, in an attempt to wake it up from sleeping. "Me trying to get back on social media," he wrote. According to Deadline, the post got good reception, receiving more than 1.4 million likes in 17 hours and the comments remaining happy and positive.

The next day, the "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" actor posted to Instagram again, this time an actual video of himself and his son catching a tarantula and captioning it, "Posting this from a Holiday Inn." Once again, the post got positive feedback, getting comedic comments from actor and musician Jamie Foxx, comedian Savvy Amusing, and even his mother-in-law Adrienne Norris, per E! News.

Despite Smith posting to Instagram again, he is also keeping his distance, as he's still in the process of repairing his relationship with his family and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. It seems to be going okay, though, as the "Girls Trip" actor posted a video of her birthday celebration, captioning it, "I'm so grateful for all the birthday love yesterday, thank you." In the video, Smith is seen standing next to his wife, singing "Happy Birthday" along with close friends and family.