Actor Joshua Jackson recently blasted what he called “racist and misogynist” comments about his actress wife, Jodie Turner-Smith, proposing marriage to him.

The couple, who welcomed a daughter in 2020, were married a year prior. 

“Queen & Slim” star Jodie Turner-Smith (left) and her husband, actor Joshua Jackson (right), post at the “Queen & Slim” premiere in November 2019 in Hollywood. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

In an interview with Refinery29, Jackson thanked writer Kathleen Newman-Bremang, a Black woman, for the opportunity to give context to the story about the Queen & Slim star proposing to him. 

“I accidentally threw my wife under the bus because that story was told quickly, and it didn’t give the full context, and holy Jesus, the internet is racist and misogynist,” Jackson said. 

He said they were in Nicaragua when Turner-Smith proposed marriage. He said that he accepted, but one thing that he never got to share was that he pledged to ask her the question again himself.

“She has a biological father and a stepdad, who’s the man who raised her,” Jackson explained. “[I said], ‘You have to give me the opportunity to ask both of those men for your hand in marriage.’ And then, ‘I would like the opportunity to re-propose to you and do it the old-fashioned way down on bended knee.’ So, that’s actually how the story ended up.” 

He added that he was appalled by the comments about the proposal.

“She did it. I said, ‘Yes.’ We’re happy. That’s it,” said Jackson. “That’s all you need to know. That has been a real education for me as a white man, truly. The way people get in her comments and the ignorance and ugliness that comes her way is truly shocking. And it has been a necessary, but 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.” 

He also said succinctly, “for anybody who is freaked out by a woman claiming her own space, shut the f–k up.” 

In a wide-ranging discussion that went beyond Jackson’s lengthy acting career, he also addressed the strong Black woman trope, saying, “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.” 

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