Diddy once nearly got into a fight with Will Smith after he and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith “flirted” with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, according to the Bad Boy mogul’s former bodyguard Gene Deal.
Deal was asked about the alleged incident in an interview The Art of Dialoguewhere he recalls Puff’s violent reaction, who suspected that Men in Black The star and his actress wife tried to lure JLo into the bedroom.
“We were at a birthday party that I think Matt Damon was throwing for Ben Affleck. It was just a small meeting at the Four Seasons,” Deal recalled. “Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Puff, Will Smith and Jada were sitting on (one) side of the room.
“(Puff) stood up. And when he stood up, he went and put his hands in a certain way (crossing them). I walk up to him and he tells me, “Hey, I think Will and Jada are trying to get Jennifer.” I want you to stay close because I’m going to finish him off.”
Gene Deal laughed, remembering thinking to himself that Will Smith would likely “beat the crap” out of Diddy, although he admitted that his former employer might “beat the crap out of him.”
The former bodyguard also recalled strategically positioning himself far enough away from Puff so that if he tried to kill Will, “I could move slowly enough that Will could probably get two or three strikes back.”
“It was funny,” he concluded with a laugh. “He thought Jada and Will were too persistent in flirting with Jennifer.”
It’s unclear exactly when the alleged incident occurred, but Diddy and Jennifer Lopez dated between late 1999 and early 2001 after meeting on the set of a music video.
Despite the fact that Diddy once apparently wanted to punch Will Smith, he was rumored to have played the role of peacemaker last year when the former The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The star slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars for making fun of Jada Pinkett’s alopecia.
Page six At the time, it was reported that Puff “spoke to both (Smith and Rock) separately” following the incident, which made front page news around the world.
However, he denied reports that he told a reporter at an Oscars party that the couple had quickly worked out their differences.
“I never confirmed that they made up,” Diddy explained TMZ. “I said, ‘As brothers, they’ll work it out and let’s move on with love.’
Will Smith finally responded to Jada Pinkett Smith’s recent interviews
Gene Diehl’s comments come on the heels of various high-profile revelations about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett’s marriage. During an interview with Today Earlier this month, Jada revealed that she and Will have been secretly separated since 2016, although they are not technically divorced.
In a separate interview with PEOPLEThe 52-year-old actress denied their marriage was open despite her high-profile romance with R&B singer August Alsina.
“I think what’s confusing is that over time there were different points in my marriage where Will and I decided we weren’t together,” she said. “We didn’t tell the public where I actually thought about divorce, separation.
“There were several where we went and lived our own separate lives. So I think that’s where people might think, “Oh, they must be in an open relationship.”