Breaking his silence. Will Smith is speaking out and sharing his thoughts about his seven-year separation from Jada Pinkett Smith, and her forthcoming bombshell memoir, Worthy.
In a recent profile interview with the New York Times, Jada opens up about many of the revelations made in her forthcoming tome — including her past suicidal inclinations, depression, the use of hallucinogens to help explore her mental health issues, and her unique marital situation with Will. The memoir is a raw, bare and candid exploration of the inner demons she’s battled, and Smith told the New York Times, in an email, that reading the book reminded him of how strong his wife truly is.
“When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life, a sort of emotional blindness sets in,” the Oscar-winning actor wrote. “You can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties.” Last week, the 52-year-old actress sat down with Today’s Hoda Kotb for an intimate discussion about her upcoming memoir. During the NBC News prime-time special, Jada broke down the many startling revelations from her book, including her marriage to Will. Jada shared that she and Will have been separated for seven years.
“Yes, it was not a divorce on paper, but it was a divorce,” Jada told Hoda. The Girls Trip star disclosed that she and Will, 55, have been leading “completely separate lives” since 2016, even though they never officially divorced. Through the years rumors swirled about the couple, but Jada said, “I can definitely understand why there would be misunderstandings, but none of it’s true.” The separation began seven years ago, as Jada confirmed during the interview, making it a long-standing arrangement that they have successfully kept private from the public.
When asked why they chose to maintain this arrangement, Jada said, “I think just not being ready yet. Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in a partnership, and in regards to how do we present that to people, you know? And we hadn’t figured that out.”
“I think 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,” Jada said, adding that she made a promise to herself and Will to never allow their marriage to result in a divorce. “I made a promise that there will 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.” Divorce, at least at the present time, is off the table. “We don’t want to,” Jada said. “We love our family. And we love each other. It’s more of a life partnership. Ten years from now, Hoda, who knows?”
