Jada Pinkett Smith Revisits Oscars Slap As She Reveals She & Will Smith Have Lived “Completely Separate Lives” Since 2016

Jada Pinkett Smith recalled that infamous Oscars slap as she revealed she and Will Smith have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016.

Pinkett Smith revealed the news in her new memoir Worthy and she spoke about the incident in an interview with People. She recalled watching her husband storm the stage during the 2022 Academy Awards and slap presenter Chris Rock after he made a joke about her shaved head. She suffers from alopecia, which causes hair loss.

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“I thought, ‘This is a skit,’ Pinkett Smith told People.” Not believing it was real at first, “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.” She said the first words she said to Will when they were alone backstage were “‘Are you okay?'”

Pinkett Smith also spoke with NBC News’ Hoda Kotb on Today about the couple’s separation. She told Kotb the couple had not previously gone public with that news because they were not “ready yet.”

They were “still trying to figure out between the two of us, how to be in partnership,” she said.

Pinkett Smith also said there were “a lot of things” that led to the fracturing of the relationship. She explained that, by 2016, “we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were still both kind of stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

RELATED: Chris Rock Went To Counseling After Oscars Slap Incident, Leslie Jones Says

Pinkett Smith and Smith have been married since 1997. Pinkett Smith said they are not legally divorced and do not plan to divorce.

She said she “made a promise” that there would never be a reason for her and Smith to divorce “and I just haven’t been able to break that promise,” she said.

Pinkett Smith’s memoir Worthy releases October 17.

Here is a clip from Pinkett Smith’s Today interview with Kotb:

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