Jada Pinkett Smith is revealing where her marriage to Will Smith really stands.
In new interviews, the Girls Trip star said she has been separated from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum for seven years.
While fans are just learning the news now, Jada confirmed to Today that she and Will have been apart since 2016. As for the reason they kept things quiet?
“Just not being ready not, still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership,” Jada told Hoda Kotb in an interview released Oct. 11. “In regards to how do we present that to people, you know, and we hadn’t figure that out.”
She also shed some light on what led them to part ways.
“Why it fractured, that’s a lot of things,” the actress added. “I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both stuck in our fantasy of what the other person should be.”
And while Jada said she considered divorce, she ultimately decided not to file.
“I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,” she said. “We will work through whatever, and I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”
Indeed, Jada indicated that they are still navigating their relationship.
“We’re still figuring it out,” she also told People in a profile published Oct. 11.
“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.”
Jada and Will had already been separated for six years the night of the 2022 Oscars, where he won the Best Actor trophy for his lead role in King Richard and slapped Chris Rock onstage after the comedian made a joke about Jada’s shaved head.
“I thought, ‘This is a skit,'” Jada, who lives with alopecia, recalled to the magazine. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”
Jada remembers asking her husband if he was OK after they were finally alone after the show, and she suggested he’s still on his own journey.
“I’m going to be by his side,” she added, “but also allow him to have to figure this out for himself.”
After the slap, Will resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and was banned from its events for 10 years. He also apologized to Chris—calling the slap “unacceptable” and noting “there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.” And Will made it clear that Jada “had nothing to do” with his actions.
