Jada Pinkett Smith wanted to announce split in 2020 but Will 'wasn't ready'

16 October 2023 , 15:29

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Jada Pinkett Smith's memoir comes out this week

Jada Pinkett Smith wanted to announce her separation from Will Smith back in 2020 but he "wasn't ready", she has claimed.

In a new interview on Kelly Ripa's Let's Talk Off Camera podcast, Jada is said to have addressed the real reason why she and Will kept their split under wraps. Which now comes after the bombshell claim that she and Will are working on reconciling.

Speaking candidly to Kelly, Jada revealed that she had planned to reveal her and Will's separation back in 2020 after singer August Alsina discussed his relationship with Jada in interview with Angela Yee.

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Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith got hitched in 1997 (AFP via Getty Images)

Jada said: "When that person decided to come out and speak on it, that relationship had been over for two years, and I was in a place where I really didn't want to be emotionally blackmailed in that way, if that makes any sense."

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She then revealed that she wanted to appear on Red Table Talk alone to address the situation, but noted that her husband wanted to appear alongside her. "And I was like, 'Hey, I'm gonna own this. I have no shame around it.' So I was going to go to the table by myself, but then Will decided that he wanted to come to the table with me," she said.

Jada then added: "He was like, 'I really don't want you to do this alone.' And I think the misconception was that I asked Will to come to the table. I forced him to come to the table, and that just wasn't the case. You can't force Will to do anything, okay?"

Then in a 2020 episode of Jada's podcast Red Table Talk, she and Will discussed August Alsina and Jada's "entanglement". But when she sensed her husband was struggling to discuss the topic, she decided against revealing their split.

"I started to see him get uncomfortable. I started to see that he was not ready, and my codependency kicked right in. And I was like, I am going to make sure you are good by any means necessary, even if that means taking on the false narrative that I've been the adulterous wife," she revealed.

This comes amid claims that Jada and Will are working on "reconciling". Speaking on the Today show today, Jada revealed: "We are in a deep healing space," before noting that there is "no divorce on paper" and "no divorce in theory".

Mollie Quirk