Jada Pinkett Smith 'humiliated' Will Smith with 'cheating' as split announced

11 October 2023 , 13:19

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She's been open with fans about the change (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed she has been separated from her actor husband Will Smith for the last seven years.

The Gotham actress has announced she and her Men In Black star husband separated back in 2016 and are still trying to "figure out" what the future of their marriage looks like after living apart for seven years. The couple were no longer together when Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars after the comedian made a joke about Jada.

Speaking to People magazine Jada said: "We're still figuring it out." She added: "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." The 52-year-old also broke her silence on Smith's actions at the Oscars. "I thought, 'This is a skit'," she admitted. Like many people watching the incident unfold on live TV, she didn't believe it was real initially. "I was like, 'There's no way that Will hit him'," Jada said. She continued: "It wasn't until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realised it wasn't a skit."

(Future Publishing via Getty Imag)

(AFP via Getty Images)

Jada's announcement also comes five years after Jada confessed to cheating on her husband, who she will have been separated from for two years at the time, on her chat show Red Table Talk with R&B singer August Alsina, which she described at the time as an "entanglement". One fan wrote: "I hope you will stop humiliating him." A second posted: "Didn't you cheat? Get real!!" A third quipped: "Aren't you glad you married him even when you were crying and didn't want to? So cute."

In a 2018 episode of Red Table talk Will appeared as a guest as Jada declared that she had "never wanted to get married". The couple tied the knot on New Year's Eve 1997 at the Gothic-style Cloisters Castle close to her Baltimore hometown. Jada also stressed in the clip how she eventually decided to go ahead with her marriage after feeling unsure because she wanted to placate her mother due to her being pregnant. Jada said on the show how she knew immediately when Jaden was conceived adding: "I knew the moment after the act that I was pregnant."

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Jada admitted that she "cried that whole night" realising that "my life was never gonna be the same" once she became a mother. She added: "I really didn't wanna get married." Will then responded laughing: "We only got married because Gammy was crying."

The couple with their children (jadapinkettsmith/Instagram)

Jada continued: "It was almost as if Gammy was like: 'You have to get married, so let's talk about the wedding.' I was under so much pressure, you know, being a young actress, being young, and I was just like pregnant and I just, I was just like, I didn't know what to do, but I just knew, I was like, I never wanted to be married."

Jada's mother Adrienne then recalled: "I remember feeling very strongly and wanting you guys to be married. I do remember that but I don't remember your rejection of the idea of marriage. I remember the rejection of the idea of a wedding but not of a marriage." Jada continued: "And now Gammy done gone to Will crying about I don't want a wedding, and now I'm being forced to have a wedding, when really I just wanted it to be the two of us on a mountain, 'cause I was like: 'This is serious business'." Adrienne then said sorry "that I didn't respect your wishes," and that she was "selfish" for insisting on the full ceremony as Jada was "my only child."

In the talk both Jada and Will did agree their marriage was "the right call", but Jada and Adrienne did admit the wedding was "horrible". Will and Jada made headlines again in July 2020 when they discussed her romantic involvement with August Alsina during a "break" from their marriage on Red Table Talk. Jada explained how August - who was 23 at the time - met them through their son Jaden and was "really sick" at the time with a genetic liver disease.

Jada said: "And it all started with him just needing some help, me wanting to help his health, his mental state. The outpouring for him from our family was initially about his health. We found all those different resources to help pull him through and from there you and I were going through a very difficult time."

Will then admitted: "I was done with you," before Jada explained they had decided to separate for a "period of time." Will then encouraged Jada to speak further prompting her: "And then what did you do, Jada?" She replied: "As time went on, I got into a different type of entanglement with August." She then clarified what she meant adding: "It was a relationship, absolutely." Jada continued: "I was in a lot of pain, and I was very broken. In the process of that relationship I definitely realized that you can't find happiness outside yourself."

Jada subsequently denied claims August made that Will had given his blessing for an affair, stating that the relationship occurred when they were separated. She did initially deny August's claims of a relationship between them before confessing and admitting "there's some healing that needs to happen."

Ayeesha Walsh