Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She Was Separated from Husband Will Smith for Six Years Prior to His Controversial Oscars Slap at Chris Rock Last Year.
In an interview with People, published on Wednesday, Jada Pinkett Smith disclosed that she and her husband are “still figuring it out.” However, during a separate NBC interview, the 52-year-old actress stated that they are still not together.
While promoting her upcoming memoir, “Worthy,” Pinkett Smith spoke with Hoda Kotb in her hometown of Baltimore, with a portion of the interview airing on the Today show Wednesday morning.
She revealed that she and Will Smith are legally married but have been leading “completely separate lives” since 2016, clarifying that their separation is not a formal divorce on paper. When questioned about her reluctance to pursue a legal divorce, Pinkett Smith explained that she had made a promise to herself that there would never be a reason for them to get a divorce, and she had been unable to break that promise.
As for the causes behind the “fracture” in their relationship, Pinkett Smith cited multiple factors, explaining that by 2016, they had grown exhausted from trying. She suggested that they had both been clinging to unrealistic fantasies of what they expected each other to be.
Publicly, the couple had denied any issues in their relationship, even joking about keeping things “hot” in a 2017 episode of the Bravo chat show Watch What Happens Live.
Despite their public denials, rumors of marital problems persisted for years. In a 2020 episode of her Red Table Talk show, Pinkett Smith and Will Smith openly discussed her involvement with singer August Alsina, referring to it as an “entanglement.” However, it was only recently revealed that they never reconciled after their separation. Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals
When asked about why they had maintained the façade of a happy marriage, Pinkett Smith attributed it to not being ready to face the truth and not having figured out how to present their partnership to the public.