What Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith said on their bombshell 7-year separation reveal

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2022 Oscars.

Actor Jada Pinkett Smith peeled back the layers of her marriage with superstar Will Smith, unveiling startling truths in her memoir “Worthy” and a deeply personal interview with Hoda Kotb. A prime-time special on NBC that aired on October 13 delivered a fresh perspective on a relationship that has been the subject of speculation and intrigue for years.

The bombshell revelation comes on the heels of Pinkett’s upcoming memoir, "Worthy," set to release on October 17th, and is poised to shake the very foundation of Hollywood's power couple's story. In a no holds barred admission, Jada Pinkett Smith has declared that she and Will Smith have been living "completely separate lives" since 2016.

When asked why the couple had kept their separation under wraps for so long, Pinkett Smith candidly stated that they were "still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership."

She explained that they were struggling with the idealized notions they had held about each other. "By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be."

Will Smith has acknowledged his emotional blindness and credited his wife’s memoir for awakening him to the depths of her resilience, intelligence, and compassion in a letter to the New York Times. He expressed that over the course of their long relationship, he had become oblivious to her "hidden nuances and subtle beauties", but now he understands her better than ever before.

On Sunday, Will Smith posted a video of him asleep on a boat saying: "notifications off".

The pair's love story, which began in 1997, had faced public scrutiny due to incidents like Pinkett’s "entanglement" with singer August Alsina, and Smith’s controversial Chris Rock slap at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Their public appearances suggested a strong partnership, but it was all for the world.

They still post photos and wishes for each other on social media on birthdays and are often spotted in family gatherings. In fact, even at the 2022 Oscars, Smith referred to Pinkett as his “wife” despite the new revelation of their long separation.

Despite their separation, Pinkett Smith expressed her willingness to live with Will again in the future. She made it clear that their bond transcends a mere divorce on paper, as she had made a promise to never give him a reason to seek a legal separation. “I just haven’t been able to break that promise."

The relationship, once believed to be rock-solid, has over the years been in public scrutiny as several aspects came to life. Pinkett Smith has also called the late rapper Tupac Shakur as her “soulmate” in her memoir. Will Smith also published a memoir in 2021 where he spoke about their marriage.

The pair share two children, son Jaden Smith, 24, and daughter Willow Smith, 21. The Oscar winner also has a son Trey from his first marriage.