Tiffany Haddish says seeing Will Smith "stand up" for his wife Jada Pinkett Smith by smacking Chris Rock "was the most beautiful thing [she's] ever seen".

Tiffany Haddish is proud of Will Smith for standing up for his wife

Tiffany Haddish is proud of Will Smith for standing up for his wife

Jada's 'Girls Trip' co-star has defended the 'King Richard' actor, insisting he was just trying to "protect" her, after he struck the comedian at Sunday night's (27.03.22) Oscars in Los Angeles in reaction to Chris making fun of his spouse's shaven hairdo.

Speaking to People, the 42-year-old actress said: "When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me. As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say like, 'Keep my wife's name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,' that's what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you. And that meant the world to me.

She continued: "And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives."

Jada has been open about her battle with hair loss as a result of alopecia in the past, and the 'Nobody's Fool' star has accused Chris of "exploiting" his friend.

Tiffany added: "And that's their friend.

"As a friend, why would you do that? He didn't even run the joke by her, but she was hurt, though. If she wouldn't have been hurt, he probably wouldn't have said nothing. But you could see he was clearly … And they exploited it. They exploited her, so … He protected his wife."

Chris said: "Jada, love ya. 'G.I. Jane 2', can't wait to see it."

Although Will laughed at first, Jada looked unimpressed and he then walked to the stage, smacked the presenter and walked away again.

Chris said: "Oh Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s**** out of me."

Will then shouted from his seat: "Take my wife's name out of your f****** mouth."

Chris said: "Wow dude. It was a 'G.I. Jane' joke."

The 'Men in Black' star then again said: "Keep my wife's name out of your f****** mouth."

Chris appeared stunned as he said: "I'm going to OK... I'll keep going? That was, er, the greatest night in the history of television. Okay.

"So we are here to give a documentary out, to give an Oscar for Best Documentary.

"Now the beauty of documentaries, they make you feel smart, like you read a book or something but all you really did was get high and watch Netflix. So here we go, the nominees are..."

Will later apologised as he accepted his award for Best Actor and Chris is not planning to press charges.