Jada Pinkett Smith has disclosed that she and her husband, Will Smith, have been living apart since 2016, which is six years before the well-publicized incident at the Oscars when Smith confronted comedian Chris Rock.
Jada Pinkett Smith, an actor, provided this revelation during an interview that aired on Wednesday. The couple, known for their Hollywood influence, drew significant attention at last year’s Academy Awards when Will Smith physically confronted Chris Rock on stage for joking about Pinkett Smith.
However, in the interview with NBC News, Jada Pinkett Smith explained that they had already been leading “entirely separate lives” for several years prior to the infamous Oscars incident. She mentioned that by the time 2016 arrived, they were both exhausted from trying to maintain their marriage.
Rumors about potential affairs and an open marriage had circled around the couple for a long time. In 2020, Jada Pinkett Smith openly discussed her extramarital involvement with singer August Alsina, which took place during a period when she and Will Smith were separated.
According to the interview, their separation has persisted until the present, even though they remain legally married. When asked why they chose to conceal their separation, Jada Pinkett Smith stated that they were “just not… ready yet” and were still working on figuring out their partnership.
In a separate interview with People magazine, she said, “We have a deep love for each other, and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
Jada Pinkett Smith also addressed the Oscars incident from March 2022 in an excerpt from her memoir. At the ceremony, Chris Rock had made a joke about her closely cropped hair due to alopecia. Will Smith then went on stage and slapped Rock before returning to his seat, shouting obscenities at the presenter.
In her memoir, Pinkett Smith recalled that initially, she thought the slap was part of a skit and was unclear about why her husband was so upset. She clarified that they had been living separately and attended the event as a family, not as a married couple.
She also mentioned that Chris Rock had once asked her out, believing that she and Will Smith were getting a divorce. Pinkett Smith revealed, “I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce, and this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce.”
In the end, she informed Rock that there was no divorce on the horizon, and he profusely apologized for his misunderstanding.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith first met on the set of his sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” in 1994. At that time, Smith was married to his first wife, from whom he later divorced. The couple shares two children together, Jaden and Willow.
