Jada Pinkett Smith speaks out on why her marriage to Will Smith broke down after admitting they’ve split up
Jada Pinkett Smith has admitted she and Will Smith have been secretly separated for years.
The couple married back in 1997 and are parents to three children; Jaden, 25, Willow, 22, and Trey, 30, - who is Will’s son from a past relationship.
In a new interview with People, Jada opened up about the relationship and admitted they were still living separately when Will famously slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022.
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At the 94th Academy Awards, the actor strode onto stage and slapped the comedian after a joke about Jada looking like ‘G.I. Jane’.
Bald headed, she had recently revealed she was suffering from alopecia.
And she now says they were separated for six years before that famed slap.
Jada told the magazine: “We’re still figuring it out. We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together.
“We just got deep love for each other, and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
The talk show host also addressed her and Will’s separation in an upcoming NBC News prime-time special with Hoda Kotb.
She claims they have lived ‘completely separate lives’ since 2016.
“Why it fractured...that — that’s a lot of things ... By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” Jada says.
“I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
However, as Kotb clarifies, it’s ‘not a divorce on paper’ and while Jada has considered it, she’s never been able to go through with it.
She says: “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through ... whatever.
“I just haven’t been able to break that promise."
Speaking to People, the mum praised her children for standing by her throughout the rocky relationship.
She said: “My children, they're little gurus. They've taught me a deep sense of self-acceptance.
“They love every part of me. The level of love, unconditional love that they have for me and their dad.
“And it's one thing to want to be the person that gives that unconditional love. And then there's, to be the recipient of that.”
In more recent years, Jada and Will became well-known for seemingly being refreshingly honest and open about their personal lives, with Jada admitting to having an affair with the then 29-year-old singer August Alsina in 2020, something she described as an ‘entanglement’.
The pair also revealed they have an open marriage.
Topics: Will Smith, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Jess Battison