Jada Pinkett Smith Details Time She Pulled a Knife on an Ex as 'Red Table Talk' Takes on Domestic Violence

The women of "Red Table Talk" were all reaching for tissues on Monday's new episode, as they shared personal stories of physical and emotional violence.

Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions of assault.

The episode began with Jada Pinkett Smith addressing her viewers, explaining that she, her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris and daughter Willow Smith would be talking about the "very violent relationship" between her parents.

"This will be the first time that Willow's actually heard these stories about her grandfather, who she knew," explained Jada, who added that domestic violence was "one of the most requested topics" from her viewers to address.

As the three women sat down together at the titular table, Jada asked her mother to reveal the "worst incident" with her father, the late Robsol Pinkett, Jr.

"There was so many. I have a scar on my back now," she answered, as Jada said he allegedly threw her mother over a bannister. "He was typically in an altered state when he was abusive like that. Drunk. He gave me a black eye once, I tried to hide it from mommy but she saw it."

"I do know when enough gets to be enough and you gotta get outta there, I actually ran for my life," she recalled. "He was angry about something, he came home angry, you and I were at mommy and daddy's house and he came over there and he was pissed off about something ... but he started hitting me and he was in a rage."

During the alleged attack, Banfield-Norris said he left the room to go get a very young Jada, and that's when she made a run for it.

"I knew that he wasn't going to hurt you. He left the room to get you, I went through the bedroom, out the master bath and down the steps and ran across the street to the neighbor," she said, choking up as she spoke. "Ran across the street for the neighbor for them to call and get me some help. They called the police. I knew he wasn't going to harm you. When the police arrived, they were coming in and that was it. I wasn't trying to deal with it anymore, he was out of control."

Pinkett Smith said that when her father did get sober, "he was a gentle soul," adding that now that she's older, "I have so much compassion in knowing what he had gone through." She also said she was "pretty harsh" on him. Pinkett Smith previously revealed they were on "terrible terms" when he passed away.

While Jada said she never had any personal experiences with physical abuse, she has had emotionally abusive relationships, "big time." She then recalled a time she pulled a knife on an ex.

"We were coming from a restaurant and he had been drinking and he was driving and he started getting really aggressive in the car," she said, before turning to Willow. "This is why I always tell you, pay attention to your surroundings just in case you have to make a quick exit. Thank goodness I knew where I was, I knew how to get out of the car and get to the house."

After running to the house and changing into sweatpants and sweatshirt, she grabbed "a big old knife from the kitchen" and hid. "He came through the back sliding door, like he was gonna sneak up on me and I came out of his son's bedroom and I was at the bottom of the hallway like, 'Don't come near me,'" she continued. "And he said the quintessential line that you hear in movies all the time, 'You think I would hurt you.'"

She then credited Spike Lee for "[saving] me from that one," as he wanted to talk to her about a role in "Girl 6."

"I got on that plane and he never saw me again, until I was with Will Smith," she said. "That's when I saw him. Not a bad guy at all, very sweet guy, but just has those tendencies of violence. That was all the sign I needed."

Willow added that she's never been in any violent situations herself, crediting her parents with making her "very cautious."

The women were later joined by Adrienne's hairstylist, a woman named Crystal, who had been in an abusive relationship, before Willow sat down with the woman's daughter to share what it was like to witness her mother move forward with her life.