Thread by @jmetr22b

///BREAKING/// #JussieSmollett has been called to testify in his own defense on charged he arranged a fake hate crime attack on himself.

Smollett is wearing a gray suit, maroon tie. Just got sworn in. Asked what he does for a living: "I am an artist."

Smollett is testifying in a quiet voice, occasionally smiling as he's asked about his family. His lawyer has to ask him to speak up. About a dozen family members are in the front rows of the gallery, including his mother and siblings.
Q: Did you grow up rich?
A: Goodness, no.

Smollett is being shown family photos, including of him and dad as a baby and a group photo of all the siblings. Says he and his dad "had issues," but got a long later in life. His mom, he says, is "my favorite human being in the world.

Smollett says he did child acting, but was not a child star. "I was a working child actor. There’s a big difference. The Olsen twins were child stars...We were not famous." Says he did a lot of commercials in New York, and got into films when family moved to L.A. at age 8.

"I was blessed to work as a kid, up until I decided not to," he says, smiling. At age 13, after a show featuring his family got canceled, he decided to focus on music. "I wasn’t cutesy cutesy anymore, but I also wasn’t a leading man." Says he worked as a clown at children parties

In his young 20s, Smollett said he worked for a charity in L.A. where he had to take a bus both ways, two hours there and 1 hour 28 minutes back. They're really laying on the humble upbringing...Now he's moved on to traveling Europe. Lived in Zurich on money earned in the U.S.

Before Jussie took that stand, the judge had both rear and side doors of his courtroom opened and plastic chairs set up so people who couldn't get in can hear. They're three-deep in the hallway.

Jussie says that growing up, "My mom and my dad were hippies. So it was just.. hip." Dad passed away on Jan. 7, 2015.

Smollett says he jumped at the chance to audition for Jamal on "Empire." "He was the singer. I’d never seen a gay man, let a lone a gay black man, portrayed that way." Says he wrote to Lee Daniels personally. Auditioned for the show seven times before landing the part in 2014.

Smollett says he got paid $27,000 to $28,000 an episode for 10 episodes that first season. "It was, we had like 35 million viewers a week worldwide ... It's jarring," he said, adding that his dad had just died of cancer. "It was very confusing emotionally what to feel."

"It was the biggest show on television," Smollett says. Special prosecutor Dan Webb has now objected to the relevancy of all this to the case. Judge Linn says the defense has a little leeway but urges them to move on.

Smollett says he negotiated to be able to keep 50 percent of his publishing for material he wrote for the show, which had never been done before. "I felt amazing."
Q: Did you have any issues with Fox?
A: No.

Smollett says he met Abimbola Osundairo, whom he called "Bon," at a club during Season 4. He was in the VIP box, "which I usually hate because you feel like a monkey in a cage...feel kind of like I do now. It's not fun." Bon came up an said he'd worked on Empire also.

Smollett says he and Osundairo "did some drugs" and went to the Steam Works bath house in Boystown. Asked what kind of drugs, he says, "Cocaine and weed. I had the weed, I always have weed on me (awkward pause). Not now, but...."

He said Osundairo had been to the bathhouse before, but he had not. They got a private room. There was gay porn on the screens. "We did more drugs and we like, made out. There was some touching."

Asked why he did drugs, Smollett pauses and shakes his head. "Uhhhh ...I wish I could tell you. I like it. It was .. it got me away from everything else, so to speak." He's now saying he was under a lot of pressure, starting to see some of the ugliness online.

Smollett's answer about the pressure he was under went on for more than a minute before Linn cut him off. "Ask another question."

Smollett says he and Abimbola first exchanged numbers after a guest star on "Empire" asked if he knew where to get Molly. After that, they hung out a lot more.

Smollett says he and Abimbola would drive around in his car smoking blunts, then he'd drop him off and go home. "It's part of my relaxing process. I think that the car is probably the best place to listen to your music to be by yourself to be inspired."

Here is the family photo the jury saw... Jussie is in the hat at center.

Regarding Olabinjo, Bon's brother: "He kind of creeped me out," Smollett says.
Was that your friend?
No. ... I didn’t even know his name. It was one of those, you see somebody too many times to ask them their name. I was just like, 'Hey brother.'”

One night he and Bola left a strip club after his brother had "took the vibe out of the room." They went to the gay bathhouse, Smollett says. "We went alone, we got a private room again," Smollett says haltingly..."We made out a little bit and this time we masturbated together."

They've now moved on to Smollett's hiring of the brothers for nutrition and exercise program. Smollett says he "had put on a significant amount of weight" and wanted to get in shape. "I had to be shirtless in the music video that we were prepping for."

And that's lunch. 45 minutes. Back at 2p.m for more direct testimony from Smollett