Will Smith and his eternal jealousy for the late Tupac Shakur

The 'Prince of Rap' was always jealous of Tupac because of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith

To better understand what goes on inside Will Smith's head when he punched Chris Rock while trying to defend his wife, one would have to go back almost three decades.

Before the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air met Jada, the actress developed a close relationship with one of the greatest rappers of all time, the late great Tupac Shakur.

But contrary to popular opinion, their relationship was never romantic. They shared a close friendship that was very unique. Tupac was convinced that he was going to be a part of Jada Pinkett Smith's life until they grew old.

Despite not being romantic, Pac was overly protective of Jada and was always looking out for the men he dated. He felt that any man who got in the way of her friendship with her would be trouble.

By the time Jada began dating Will Smith, Tupac was embroiled in a factional drive within the hip-hop community that ended up claiming both his life and the life of the Notorious B.I.G.

The lawsuit between rappers from the East against those from the West ended in tragedy

A battle between the east coast and the west coast ended in the terrible tragedy of losing two of the greatest rappers to ever do it. Because of these Tupac issues that he was dealing with, Jada asked him not to attack Will Smith, who was an East Coast (Philadelphia) rapper in any way.

Pac took this personally, revealing to his inner circle that he was offended by Jada's request, but also realized that he had brought it on himself by living that famous life of a thug.

Smith was always jealous of Tupac's relationship with the woman he would eventually become his wife, a feeling he definitely couldn't control and regrets to this day.

During an interview with 'The Breakfast Club', Will Smith didn't shy away from the idea that he was always jealous of Tupac, but he was the one who always made him weird, he was the one who refused to get close to the rap legend. Not the other way.

Tupac led the life of a thug, but you can tell that in the end, he was a pacifist just by listening to him talk and hearing a lot of his lyrics. The difference is that Will Smith was always clean with his music and Pac didn't mind using profanity. They were both masters of their craft, but Pac was the true wordsmith for both of them.

Will became one of the most powerful stars in the world, but he never got the chance to spend quality time with Tupac. In 1996, the rapper's death hurt Jada because he was losing one of his childhood friends. A year later, she married Will Smith, but she never got over Tupac.