Jada Pinkett Smith says that she and husband Will Smith have been secretly separated for years.
In a new interview with People, Pinkett Smith opened up about her marriage, revealing that they had been separated for six years prior to the 2022 Oscars - where Smith famously slapped comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about Pinkett Smith.
She told the publication: “We’re still figuring it out. We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together.
Advert
"We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
The couple tied the knot back in 1997, and share three children: Trey, Willow and Jaden.
However, the actor has admitted that she wasn’t overly keen on the idea of marriage in the first place.
Speaking on an episode of her show Red Table Talk in 2018, she revealed that she felt pressured into marrying him.
Advert
"I really didn’t want to get married...I didn’t want a wedding either," she said.
"I was under so much pressure. Being a young actress, being young and pregnant. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I never wanted to be married."
She added: "I was so upset that I had to have a wedding. I was so pissed," she said. "I went crying down the freaking aisle. I cried the whole way.”
She did elaborate on her feelings, adding: “I didn’t want to get married and now Gammy’s [her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris] gone running to Will, crying about how I don’t want to have a wedding.
Advert
"Now I’m being forced to have a wedding, when really I just wanted it to be the two of us [her and Smith] on a mountain, because this is serious business."
Despite the rocky start, the couple went on to become one of Hollywood's most well-known couples.
In an interview the same year, Pinkett Smith praised her husband and insisted that the relationship was ‘never going down’.
Advert
She said: “Here’s the thing about Will and I; it’s like, we are family, that’s never going down.
“It doesn’t matter, all that relationship and what people think, ideas of a husband and a partner and all that, man, whatever, at the end of the day, that’s a man that can rely on me for the rest of his life, period.”
In more recent years, the duo became well-known for being refreshingly honest and open about their personal lives, with Pinkett Smith admitting to having an affair with 29-year-old singer August Alsina in 2020, something she described as an ‘entanglement’.
The pair also revealed revealed they have an open marriage.
Topics: Will Smith
Claire Reid