Jada Pinkett Reveals Her And Will Smith Have Been Separated For 7 Years

Image via Instagram, @jadapinkettsmith

Jada Pinkett has shocked fans by revealing that her and husband Will Smith have been separated for years – seven, to be exact.

The news comes as a surprise as many fans believed that Jada and Will Smith’s marriage was as strong as ever.

This is especially considering the widely reported moment at the 2022 Oscars when Will slapped Chris Rock over a joke made about Jada’s hair.

 

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However, it sounds as though all was not as it seemed.

In an intimate interview on the Today show, Jada shared that while they never divorced “on paper”, their relationship broke down some time ago.

“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying.”

As for why their marriage stopped working, Jada explained, “I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

 

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So why have the pair kept the reality of their relationship under wraps?

Jada says that it’s because they haven’t been “ready yet”. She explained on the show that they’re “still trying to figure out, between the two of us, how to be in partnership.”

“In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn’t figured that out,” she added.

 

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The American actress also said she “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.”

Jada has a new book coming out called Worthy, in which she’s expected to go into detail about her upbringing, her career, her marriage to Will, and being a mother to her three children.

 

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An excerpt shared by People explains that the night that Will slapped Chris Rock, Jada was reminded abruptly that her and Will are married.

“We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife,” she writes. “But when I hear Will yell “wife” in the chaos of the moment, an internal shift of Oh s— . . . I am his wife! happens instantly.”

Will has yet to comment on the revelation.

• Jada Pinkett Smith
• Will Smith