Jada Pinkett Smith Says She & Will Smith Have Been Separated Since 2016

Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith Have Been Separated For 7 Years

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Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed she and her husband, Will Smith, have been separated since 2016.

The 52-year-old actress and author of her forthcoming memoir, “Worthy,” confirmed the scoop during an exclusive interview with Hoda Kotb on the “Today” show. 

Hoda, who has read the memoir, shared that she was shocked to learn that Jada and Will Smith had decided not to divorce but to live completely separate lives. 

Jada said that she and Will had not gone public with their separation because they weren’t “ready yet” and they were “still trying to figure out between the two of us, how to be in a partnership.”

She added, “How do we present that to people?”

A Promise Not To Divorce

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When asked how their relationship got fractured, Jada Pinkett Smith said that there were “a lot of things.” 

“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think that we were both kinda still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

So, why not get a divorce?

Jada said, “I made a promise that there would never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”

Watch the clip below. 

A Messy Marriage Of Entanglements

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s separation may have been the worst-kept secret in Hollywood. 

The actors tied the knot in 1997, but their marriage has been plagued with various rumors of divorce, infidelity, and speculation about their open marriage over the years.

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Most famously, in 2020, when a lovesick August Alsina spilled the beans about his years-long love affair with Jada. 

The R&B singer co-signed the separation by noting that Jada and Will’s marriage had transformed into a “life partnership.”

August also said Will gave him his “blessing.”

I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation.

Due to the transformation from their marriage to a life partnership that they have spoken on it several times and it does not involve romanticism, he gave me his blessing.

And I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life.

And I truly and really, really deeply loved and I have a ton of love for her. I devoted myself to it.

I gave my full self to it.

Initially, Jada and Will denied the affair through their reps.

But Jada later admitted to the “entanglement” during a special episode of “Red Table Talk,” while sitting across from Will Smith. 

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Brings Herself & Will Smith To The Red Table To Discuss August Alsina (Video)

In 2021, the Oscar-winning actor graced the cover of GQ magazine and talked about his unconventional marriage to Jada.

Most notably, he said he wouldn’t “suggest their road for anybody.”

We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody.

I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.

‘Worthy’

Jada Pinkett Smith Pinkett reveals more about her marriage, career, and early life in her forthcoming memoir, “Worthy,” which is slated to be released on October 17. 

Do you plan to pick up a copy of Jada’s new book?

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