Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She Separated From Will Smith In 2016

Jada Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016. Today released a clip from her forthcoming NBC News primetime special with Hoda Kotb on Wednesday (Oct. 11). The actress explains why the Smiths hadn’t gone public with the news and admits they weren’t “ready yet.” “[It was] just not being ready yet… Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in [a] partnership… In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn’t figured that out,” she recalled.

Jada explained that they have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016 — almost two decades after they tied the knot in 1997. As she continued, the actress explained that the two are still legally bound to one another and “wasn’t a divorce on paper.” However, Jada insists that their separate lives “was a divorce.” Jada then disclosed that she considered getting a proper divorce from Will at one point but couldn’t go through with it.

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

Hoda then asked what led to the relationship’s “fracture.” The Set It Off entertainer admitted that it was “a lot of things.” “Why it fractured…that’s a lot of things… By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” she added.

Jada Pinkett also explained that between 2016 and 2023, the couple never actually got back together. During that period, the couple has been a staple in the media. In 2020, it was revealed that Jada had a romantic “entanglement” with singer August Alsina and that Smith was aware of it. August and Jada’s relationship sparked an explosive conversation online. As a result, Jada and Will hashed out the issues on Pinkett’s now-defunct talk show, Red Table Talk.

Then, in 2022, Jada used RTT to discuss Will slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. She opened up about living with alopecia and what she felt about Will slapping Chris for joking about her condition.

“Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories. I’m using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is,” she said at the time.

“Now, about Oscar night. My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile. The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever,” she continued. “Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.”

Interestingly enough, Jada recently revealed she thought the slap was a “skit.” In another newly released interview with PEOPLE, Jada had no idea why Will reacted the way he did. “I thought, ‘This is a skit,'” Jada recalled. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.'” Once he returned to his seat, she realized it wasn’t skit and asked, “Are you okay?” “I’m going to be by his side,” she added. “But also allow him to have to figure this out for himself.”

Jada Pinkett Smith’s memoir, Worthy, is set to detail the “rollercoaster ride from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of personal rediscovery and the celebration of authentic feminine power.” The book will also shed more information regarding her ties and relationship with the late Tupac Shakur and, of course, her relationship with Will.

Worthy releases on Tuesday (Oct. 17).

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