Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been through more than their share of ups and downs over the decades.
The “King Richard” star, 55, and the “A Different World” alum, 52, tied the knot in 1997 after two years of dating.
The duo met in 1994 when Jada auditioned to play his girlfriend on his sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
While she didn’t score the part, they began dating a year later after Will divorced his first wife, Sheree Zampino, with whom he shares a son, Trey, 30.
Marital bliss soon continued when Jada gave birth to their first child together, Jaden, 25, in 1998. Their daughter Willow, 22, arrived two years later.
But in the last decade, the Smiths’ partnership has been the hot button topic, with rumors of a divorce, a separation, swinging and even an open marriage making waves.
Jada dropped a bombshell on Oct. 11 saying that she and Will have actually been separated since 2016.
The “Nutty Professor” actress even confessed that she “really didn’t want to get married” to the “Wild Wild West” singer in 2022, and was “crying down the freaking aisle” before exchanging vows.
“I was under so much pressure, you know, being a young actress, being young and I was just, like, pregnant and I just didn’t know what to do,” she declared on her “Red Table Talk” series at the time. “I never wanted to be married.”
Keep reading to learn more about Will and Jada’s tumultuous relationship over the years.
2013
Following an interview the “Gotham” actress did with Huffington Post Live, fans began to speculate that she and Will were in an open marriage.
“I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay,’” she explained in the April 2013 sit-down. “Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that’s not for me to do for him. Or vice versa.”
She later denied that they were in an open marriage and clarified that they weren’t swingers.
In a Facebook post, she firmly stated: “Here is how I will change my statement … Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship… this means we have a GROWN one.”
2015
Rumors of the pair parting ways began to swirl and the “Bad Boys” actor slammed divorce speculation on Facebook.
“Under normal circumstances, I don’t usually respond to foolishness (Because it’s contagious). But, so many people have extended me their ‘deepest condolences’ that I figured – ‘What the hell… I can be foolish, too!’” he penned on social media. “So, in the interest of redundant, repetitious, over & over-again-ness… Jada and I are… NOT GETTING A DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
2017
Jada appeared on “What What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” with her “Girls Trip” co-star Queen Latifah. At the time, she was secretly separated from her husband for a year.
Cohen asked the actress about the “craziest rumors” she’s heard about herself and Will, including the rumor that they’re swingers. “That’s the craziest one! It’s constant,” she said at the time. “I’m like, yo, I wish!”
When Cohen asked if Jada has tips for keeping a romance hot after 23 years together, Jada then appeared uncomforatble.
“I don’t know! I mean, I’m baffled, really,” she stammered. “Will and I just have amazing chemistry on a lot of different levels. We love to laugh together, we love to learn together, and we just love each other. We just have a good time together.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s the secret,” she added. “Yeah, we just really like each other!”
2018
Will got candid in July 2018 during an appearance on TIDAL’s “Rap Radar” podcast that he and Jada do not say they are “married anymore.”
He explained that they refer to themselves as “life partners.”
“You get into that space where you realize you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life. There’s no deal breakers. There’s nothing she could do — ever. Nothing that would break our relationship. She has my support till death and it feels so good to get to that space,” he pointed out.
2020
Fast-forward to two years later when news of an “entanglement” made headlines, with singer August Alsina claiming he had an affair with Jada.
On an episode of Jada’s Facebook show, “Red Table Talk,” she admitted to the relationship.
“I was in a lot of pain, and I was very broken. Now in the process of that relationship, I definitely realized that you can’t find happiness outside of yourself,” she confessed at the time.
‘[I] just wanted to feel good,” Jada said, adding that she started her relationship with Alsina to “heal.”
That same month, they revealed they split in 2011 after Will threw Jada a 40th birthday that she felt was a “ridiculous display of [his] ego.”
2021
Will went on to say that the pair “never believed in conventional marriage” in an interview with GQ.
“Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship. So, she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up,” he said.
He then briefly — and subtly — discussed Jada and Alsina’s affair, noting that the public has their own perception and own “impenetrable” narrative.
He added that he wasn’t the only one to drift away from their marriage at one point.
That same year, the “Independence Day” actor looked back on their split in his “Will” memoir, noting that the “marriage wasn’t working” at the time.
“We could no longer pretend,” he wrote. “We were both miserable and clearly something had to change.”
2022
In March, the Academy Awards were well under way. Presenter Chris Rock made a joke about Jada’s bald head, teasing that she should be in “G.I. Jane.”
“Keep my wife’s name out of your f – – king mouth!” Will bellowed at his seat in the audience, just moments after he stormed the Oscars stage and smacked the comedian.
Days later, Will apologized for his actions and Jada called for “healing.”
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,” Will wrote in a statement. “I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.” He was then banned from the academy for the next 10 years.
August 2022
The couple were seen for the first time since the Oscars during a dinner outing in Malibu, Calif.
December 2022
Will’s film “Emancipation” premiered and he walked the red carpet with Jada. It was also their first red carpet appearance since the Oscars.
October 2023
The “Set It Off” star revealed to People that she and Will have been separated for seven years — since 2016.
“We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us,” she told People on Oct. 11.
She also noted that they are “still figuring it out.”
She also claimed that Rock actually asked her out during a time when divorce rumors between she and Smith were rampant.
“I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce,” she told People.
“And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce,” she continued. “So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors.’ He was appalled,” Jada recalled. “And he profusely apologized and that was that.”
That same month, Jada told Today show’s Hoda Kotb that she and Will have had “completely separate lives” since 2016.
“I think just not being ready yet,” she said as to why she didn’t publicly discuss what was happening behind closed doors. “Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership, right? And in regards to how do we present that to people? And we hadn’t figured that out.”
She added that while the two are still legally married, there is no romance between them.
Jada noted that her love with Will is “fractured” and she has thought of legally divorcing him through the years.
“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.
Source link
