Ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir Worthy, Jada gave an interview on the Today show where she said that "a lot of things" led to her and Will's split — but that she ultimately wasn't able to "break that promise" and get a legal divorce. "By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying," she explained, later clarifying, "We live separately."
In an exclusive clip from her upcoming @NBCNews primetime special with @HodaKotb, Jada Pinkett Smith reveals her current relationship status with Will Smith, ahead of the release of Pinkett Smith’s memoir “Worthy.” pic.twitter.com/hMoAwi3ETz
When asked why the two had continued under the guise of still being together, Jada chalked it up to "not being ready yet. Still trying to figure out between the two of us, how to be in partnership. In regards to how do we present that to people, we hadn't figured that out."
So, let's have a look back at what was being presented to the public at this time. In 2015, Will actually passionately denounced divorce rumors, writing on Facebook, “In the interest of redundant, repetitious, over & over-again-ness… Jada and I are… NOT GETTING A DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The year of their separation, 2016, began with Jada speaking out amid the #OscarsSoWhite movement after Will's snub for his role in Concussion.
As the year continued, the pair still displayed a united front. On Mother's Day, Will gave a tribute speech to Jada where he said, "Jada is magical. Part of why I love her is things happen in a way they shouldn't happen, they shouldn't go that way. She has this magical power" — to which Jada reportedly welled up.
That being said, in August, Will did say that the pair had been to marriage counseling, and that it had brought up some "dark moment[s]." Describing it as the dark before the "dawn," he explained, "You look at each other and you can’t imagine you could ever possibly love each other again now the truth is out. [...] I think that’s the cleansing before you get to the other side that is understanding and moving forward in our relationship.”
The following year, Jada denied rumors that she and Will were swingers. Shortly after, she said in a television interview of their relationship that the "secret" to their long-lasting relationship was "friendship," adding, "You have to go off and find your happiness. The hardest thing to do is being married." For their 20-year wedding anniversary, Will wrote on Instagram,“ Happy Anniversary, My Queen! I am forever Devoted to Nurturing your Deepest Truth."
2018 brought the year that Jada started Red Table Talk — including an episode where it was touted that Will and Jada would "reveal the truth behind their relationship" for their 20th anniversary. In the episode's sequel, Jada said that the "hardest" time in their marriage happened after she turned 40 in 2011. "We essentially had to destroy our marriage. She was like, 'I can't do this anymore.' To me, it was over. But divorce was never even an option," Will said, with Jada further affirming that divorce wasn't what either of them wanted.
Candidly, Will even added, "I was devastated even worse than a divorce. We broke up within our marriage and got back together again and had to rebuild with new rules and something way, completely different."
As 2019 opened, Jada said that she and Will didn't actually celebrate their New Year's Eve anniversary anymore. "It's more of a life partnership, so it's not steeped in marital, in that day," she said at the time. "We don't really celebrate that day, you know what I'm saying, anymore in that sense because the context of our union is totally different." She continued to talk about the relationship on Red Table Talk, saying on one occasion that "redefining my marriage as a life partnership was the necessity of autonomy for myself and for Will."
Then we got to 2020, the year of the "entanglement." It all kicked off when singer August Alsina gave an interview where he was asked about Jada. Seemingly wanting to fight any speculation of infidelity, he explained, "I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation. Due to the transformation from their marriage to [a] life partnership that they have spoken on several times, and it not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing."
In a viral Red Table Talk, Jada then confirmed their "relationship" and said that it began in 2016 during a "difficult time" with Will. "I definitely believe that you and I, we never, ever thought that we would make it back," Jada said, before later signing off the episode with a paraphrase of Will's Bad Boys phrase: "We ride together, we die together. Bad marriage for life!"
In 2021, Will released his autobiography, which repeated the story of the fallout following Will's "selfish" behavior on Jada's 40th birthday. "Our marriage wasn’t working," Will writes. “We could no longer pretend. We were both miserable and clearly something had to change.” In an interview with GQ, Will further confirmed that he and Jada weren't monogamous, saying, "The experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love."
Of course, 2022 was the year of the infamous Oscars slap. It started after Chris Rock made a joke at the expense of Jada's alopecia, to which Will yelled, "Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth." In an interview with People published earlier today, Jada said that she actually thought that the moment was a "skit" and that the first thing that she asked him was "Are you okay?"
Of course, this is just a whistle stop tour through the past few years of what Will and Jada have said publicly over the years. Jada's memoir, Worthy, is out on Oct. 17.
