Jada Pinkett Smith recalls nervous breakdown: I was 'extremely suicidal'

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Jada Pinkett Smith says she became "extremely suicidal" during a nervous breakdown in her 20s.

The 47-year-old actress recalled on Monday's episode of her Red Table Talk series how she had "a complete emotional collapse" during her early career as an actress.

"I had an emotional breakdown that definitely I feel like affected my mental stability," Smith said during a conversation with her mom, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and daughter, Willow Smith.

"I had gotten to L.A. and gotten a certain amount of success and realized that that wasn't the answer, that that wasn't what was going to make everything okay. Actually, it made things worse," she added.

Smith was 19 years old when she made her TV debut in an episode of True Colors. She experienced her breakdown the next year as she continued to land roles.

"I became extremely suicidal. I had a complete emotional collapse," the star said. "It's like when you just don't have control over your emotions, your thoughts, you feel completely and utterly out of control."

"I don't even think at that particular point in time I understood what I was going through. Now I know that it was what people would consider a nervous breakdown," she added.

Smith previously discussed her experience with suicidal thoughts in an Instagram post following Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain's deaths this year.

"With the suicides of Kate and Anthony it brought up feelings of when I was in such despair and had considered the same demise... often," the actress wrote.

"Mental health is a daily practice for me. It's a practice of deep self-love. May Kate and Anthony Rest In Peace. Many may not understand... but I do, and this morning I have the deepest gratitude that I pulled through," she said.