Jada Pinkett Smith wants Will Smith’s ex-friend Bilal Salaam to pay the legal costs of a $3 million emotional distress lawsuit filed against her last year.
Jada is seeking more than $49,000 in legal fees from Will’s former friend following a judge’s April 13 ruling dismissing most of Salaam’s claims against the “Matrix” actress, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.
Jada’s attorney argued that Jada was entitled to recover her attorney’s fees, that they were reasonable and should be paid in full.
In a separate document, Jada’s team asks the court to rule entirely in her favor, award nothing to Salaam, and award her the legal costs incurred and “any other further relief that the court deems just and appropriate.”
Salaam filed a $3 million lawsuit against Jada in November 2025.
Salaam, who described himself as Will’s “best friend of almost 40 years” in the suit, claimed that Jada confronted him at a party in 2021 and told him that “if you keep talking about personal things, you’re going to end up missing or getting shot.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Jada orchestrated a “retaliation campaign” against Salaam after Will slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards and Salaam refused to cooperate with crisis management.
Salaam claimed that Jada and her friends threatened him over his upcoming memoir, telling him to “work things out” and “end this feud before they get hurt.”
As a result, Salam claimed that he suffered reputational damage, worsened health, financial loss and emotional trauma for what he called Jada’s “malicious, intentional and reckless conduct.”
In response, Jada called Salaam’s claims “nonsense” and claimed that his claims were “false, unsubstantiated and made for attention as part of an ongoing public campaign of harassment directed against her and her family.”
Jada accused Salam of being “obsessed” with his family and that he was being punished in Salam’s lawsuit for making “constitutionally protected statements of public interest regarding the family.”
Jada and Salaam are scheduled to return to court for a case management conference on May 13th and have a hearing on their motion for attorney fees on May 18th, according to the exhibit.
TMZ first reported on the filing.
In a 2023 interview with People magazine, Jada revealed that she and Will had been separated for seven years, and that they were “still exploring” their relationship.
“We’ve done really hard work together,” she said. “We just felt a deep love for each other and we’re going to figure out what that means to us.”
The two attended Paris Fashion Week together in January.
