The year of celebrity separations continues, with Jada Pinkett Smith making a surprising revelation about her marriage to Will Smith.
Speaking to USA Today’s Hoda Kotbe, Jada revealed that although she and Will are not technically divorced, they have been living separate lives since 2016.
“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,” she said, adding, “We live separately.”
As for the cause of their marriage breakdown, Jada said there were “a lot of things” to blame.
“I think by the time we got to 2016, we were both just exhausted with trying,” she said.
“I think we were both kind of still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
The full interview is set for release on October 13, ahead of the launch of Jada’s memoir, Worthy, out on October 17.
Ahead of its release, People have shared an excerpt of the highly-anticipated tell-all, where Jada revealed that she and Will attended the 2022 Oscars—where he infamously slapped host Chris Rock on stage—“as family, not as husband and wife.”
The incident, which occurred just moments before Will was awarded Best Actor for his role in King Richard, earnt the actor a 10-year ban from the ceremony, and also saw him resign from the Academy.
In a second interview with People, Jada revealed she, like many watching along, initially believed the moment was part of a comedy skit.
“I thought, This is a skit. I was like, There’s no way that Will hit him. It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realised it wasn’t a skit.”
Jada, 52, and Will, 55, have been married since 1997 and share two children, Jaden and Willow.
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