Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She and Will Smith Have Been Secretly Separated for the Last 7 Years

On the surface, Jada Pinkett Smith life appears grand, featuring a beautiful family, a superstar husband, a lavish lifestyle, fame, and fortune. However, the 52-year-old actress just opened up about an issue that has been kept secret until now. The news came as a surprising revelation, especially considering her and Will Smith’s prior denials of any marital complications and their outward portrayal of a committed married couple.

The course of their future together is now uncertain.

The surprising revelation about her marriage was made during a recent interview then elaborated further during a candid conversation on a morning talk show. Jada disclosed that she and her husband, Will Smith, have quietly lived apart for the past 7 years. They initially married in 1997 and are currently navigating the uncertain path of their future together.

During the talk show, Jada shared insights into the breakdown of her relationship with Will Smith. The actress explained, “By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

Despite being separated, the two have no intention to file for divorce.

In her book, the actress likened their separation to a ’divorce,’ even though no legal paperwork had been filed. Jada wrote, “It was not a divorce on paper. But it was a divorce.” She openly discussed her considerations regarding a legal divorce in the interview.

The actress confessed that she had contemplated it but ultimately couldn’t bring herself to follow through. She candidly revealed that she had made a ’promise’ to her husband, vowing never to provide him with a ’reason’ for divorce. This commitment played a significant role in her decision-making process.

“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,” the actress confirmed during the interview. When asked, “But you still live separately?” Jada responded with a straightforward affirmation, stating, “We live separately.”

Her children are her little supporters.

The actress emphasized that no final decisions have been made regarding the future of their marriage, and they are still in the process of ’figuring it out.’ The actress shared, “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.”

Jada also expressed her admiration for her children — Jaden, 25, Willow, 22, and Trey, 30, who is Will’s son from a previous relationship — for supporting her during this challenging period in her relationship. She said, “My children, they’re little gurus. They’ve taught me a deep sense of self-acceptance. They love every part of me.”

Jada further acknowledged that they were, in fact, living apart when the incident occurred at the 94th Academy Awards, in 2022, where her husband confronted comedian Chris Rock on stage in response to a joke about Jada’s bald head, shortly after she had revealed her alopecia condition.

This startling altercation happened just moments before Will won the Best Actor award. In his acceptance speech, a tearful Smith admitted that “love makes you do crazy things,” but notably failed to apologize to Chris for the confrontation.

She’s had an affair, and admitted it publicly.

Additionally, in July 2020, Jada publicly admitted to having had an affair with the 31-year-old singer, August Alsina, during her marriage to Will. This revelation came during a candid confession on her Facebook show, Red Table Talk, where she disclosed that she had developed a friendship with August four years prior. She also noted that she and Will were going through a ’difficult time’ and had ’basically broken up’ at that point.

Jada’s description of the affair famously referred to it as an ’entanglement,’ a term that has since found its way into August’s track, ’Shake the World.’ This startling revelation came after both actors initially denied August’s claims that Will had given his blessing for a relationship between August and Jada.

She detailed her mental struggles in her new autobiography.

This recent interview has made quite an impact during Jada’s ongoing promotional tour for her new book. In her book, she bravely discusses a range of challenging topics, including her battle with ’depression’ and ’despair,’ which began around the age of 40.

She reflects, “On paper, it all looked grand — I had the beautiful family, the superstar husband, the lavish lifestyle, fame, and fortune.” However, she goes on to reveal that behind the scenes, “I’d fallen into despair and wanted to be on this earth less and less.”

In her autobiography, Jada reveals that it wasn’t until adulthood that she came to understand the extent of her suffering, diagnosing herself with ’complex trauma with PTSD and dissociation.’ However, during her most trying times around her 40th birthday, she hadn’t received an official diagnosis and was grappling with her trauma.

The actress discloses that for 2 decades, she had put on a façade, appearing fine to the world while struggling with bouts of deep hopelessness. She felt undeserving of love, which only added to the disconnect between the seemingly perfect life she had achieved and the profound sense of loss she carried with her.

She also acknowledges that therapy had its limits, helping her reach the age of 40 but leaving her searching for more. Her source of solace during these trying times was her children. However, even their support was not enough to quell the inner turmoil she was experiencing.

She also reflects on her journey of self-discovery, noting “Every morning, waking up was like walking the plank of doom — could I make it to four p.m.? If I could, I had survived the day.” Jada’s desire to sleep was ever-present, yet she couldn’t find restful sleep. Her children were her primary motivation to keep going. However, she felt herself slowly losing her connection to them.

Here’s a timeline of the romantic relationship between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith that helps us to dig deeper in the unusual love story of the couple.