Dawson's Creek alum Joshua Jackson sprang into action to defend his wife after saying she proposed to him first. Racist trolls came for her with online misogynoir after he shared the info.
Jackson told a sweet story of how his wife, Jodie Turner-Smith, proposed to him on vacation in Nicaragua back in 2019. After that, Turner-Smith started seeing some rather unkind comments on her Instagram page.
Jackson told Refinery29:
"The way people get in her comments and the ignorance and ugliness that comes her way is truly shocking."
"For anybody who is freaked out by a woman claiming her own space, shut the f**k up."
Jackson continued:
"We're happy. That's it. That's all you need to know."
"That has been a real education for me as a White man, truly..."
"And it has been a necessary, but an unpleasant education in just the way people relate to Black bodies in general, but Black female bodies in specific."
"It is not okay. We have a long way to go."
Jackson also acknowledged his wife's struggle in dealing with the bigotry and sexism.
The interviewer, Kathleen Newman-Bremang said:
"Jodie is such an inspiration because it seems like she handles it in stride. She handles it all with humour and with grace."
Jackson replied:
"She does. And look, I think it's like a golden cage, the concept of the strong Black woman."
"I would wish for my wife that she would not have to rise above with such amazing strength and grace, above the ugliness that people throw at her on a day to day."
"I am impressed with her that she does it, but I would wish that that would not be the armor that she has to put on every morning to just navigate being alive."
Joshua Jackson is currently appearing in Peacock's streaming miniseries Dr. Death, as the titular Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who was convicted of gross malpractice and murder after injuring 33 patients and killing two of them.
The series has received accolades—and with such a star at the center, we'd expect nothing less.
