Ayesha Curry has responded to criticism she received over her comments touching on insecurities during a recent appearance on “Red Table Talk.”
The CoverGirl spokesperson shared a lengthy message in an Instagram post on Wednesday, saying why she finds it important to share her “feelings and emotions” with the public.
“It brings me pure joy to speak my mind, be vulnerable at times and to know myself inside and out,” she wrote. “Seeing as how it’s mental health awareness month I really want to take the time to encourage everyone to speak their truth regardless of perception, fitting into a mold or offending someone, because it’s YOUR truth.”
Curry, who’s married to NBA star Stephen Curry, appeared on Monday’s episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch series “Red Table Talk,” alongside her mother-in-law Sonya Curry, sister-in-law Sydel Curry and brother-in-law Seth Curry’s fiancée, Callie Rivers.
All of the women at the red table, including Pinkett Smith’s co-hosts ― her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones and her daughter Willow Smith ― spoke honestly and openly about times they have dealt with anxiety, insecurity and struggles in their relationships.
The group’s transparency in the segment was similar in nature to a number of other “Red Table Talk” episodes, where the multigenerational family trio has often aimed to create a safe space for their guests to have emotionally healing conversations.
But Curry was mocked and criticized on social media this week when she admitted on the show that she at times feels insecure that her husband frequently gets attention from other women, while she said she doesn’t have “any of that” from other men.
“Something that really bothers me, and, honestly, has given me a sense of a little bit of an insecurity, is the fact that yeah there are all these women throwing themselves, but me ― for the past 10 years ― I don’t have any of that,” she said. “Like I have zero, this sounds weird, male attention. So then I begin to internalize it, like, ‘Is something wrong with me?’”
She later added, “’Cause I don’t want it, but it would be nice to know that, like, someone’s looking.”
Pinkett Smith, who earlier in the segment shared times she has struggled with the attention her husband Will Smith has received from other women, chimed in that she has had similar feelings to Curry’s in the past.
People on Twitter chastised Curry for her honesty, accusing her of being “disrespectful.”
“Ayesha Curry is married to a whole Steph Curry and is in public complaining that she is insecure because she doesn’t get enough attention from other men,” one Twitter user wrote.
Other Twitter users shared their support for Curry, by acknowledging the power behind having open discussions about societal pressures ― especially for women.
“Ayesha Curry was vulnerable about insecurities folks deal with daily,” Campaign Zero co-founder Brittany Packnett wrote on Twitter. “I call that brave. We can choose to accept invitation to discuss the ways our socialization damages confidence. Confidence is essential to success, yet we damage it in women daily. That’s the discussion.”
Curry, a cookbook author and restaurateur, further addressed the backlash on Instagram by defending her transparency and by encouraging those who took her comments out of context to watch the episode in its entirety.
“If you get a chance to watch the actual RTT and not the headlines and rumors please do!” she said, while also calling for women to “continue to uplift, empower and not suppress and compress our feelings and thoughts.”