Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s controversial relationship

Jada Pinkett Smith just dropped her tell-all memoir Worthy, chronicling her life from her rebellious teen years in Baltimore to marrying one of the most famous actors in the world, Will Smith.

Pinkett Smith has been opening up about her relationship while promoting her new book, according to reports. Most recently, on Friday, she made a bombshell revelation during an interview with NBC, stating that the two have actually been separated since 2016. In a follow-up interview with the news network on Monday, she added that the couple are attempting reconciliation.

“There’s no finding another great love, and I think that’s the point,” she said. “We are really concentrating on healing the relationship between us.”

So else what do we know about the Red Table Talk host’s headline-grabbing relationship with the King Richard star? Here’s a timeline …

April 2013: Open marriage speculations

Will Smith with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and son Jaden Smith back in the day. Photo: Getty Images

Break-ups and open-marriage rumours had plagued the couple for years, and it ramped up when Pinkett Smith told HuffPost Live: “I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be OK.’”

Days later, Pinkett Smith released a statement on Facebook, clarifying her interview comments. “Will and I both can do whatever we want, because we trust each other to do so,” she said. “This does not mean we have an open relationship, this means we have a grown one.”

November 2013: Will Smith was accused of cheating with co-star Margot Robbie

Black and white photos obtained and published by Star Magazine showed Smith and Barbie star Margot Robbie playfully posing together. According to the publication, the photo-booth images were taken in New Orleans when the actors had a break from filming Focus.

To this day, Smith has never commented on the allegations, but according to E! News, Robbie responded at the time via Twitter (now known as X). “Been working non-stop, just catching my breath,” Robbie reportedly wrote on November 7 that year. “There’s absolutely no truth to the ridiculous rumour in Star mag.”

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October 2018: They preferred not to label their dynamic as a marriage because it’s too confining

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith married in 1997. Photo: @malaak_compton_rock/Instagram

“I needed a different form to dissolve all the expectations that I had of a marriage,” Pinkett Smith told People magazine. “I needed to do that to see Will outside of husband and see him as a human being.”

October 2018: Smith shared that Jada Pinkett Smith was the one he was supposed to be with

Will Smith with his ex-wife Sheree Zampino and wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Photo: @shereezampino/Instagram

Smith and Pinkett Smith opened up about their relationship during a 2018 episode of Red Table Talk. During the conversation, the Independence Day star recalled being married to Sheree Zampino when he met Pinkett Smith in the 90s. While having dinner with Zampino, Smith abruptly left the table because he had “a realisation that I wasn’t with the person I was supposed to be with”.

“I was sitting in a stall in the restaurant and I was crying uncontrollably and then laughing like, ‘What the heck is wrong with me?’” Smith said. “I knew that was the woman I was supposed to be with, but I was never getting divorced,” he said. “I don’t get divorced.”

Zampino, however, filed for divorce on Valentine’s Day and Smith started dating Pinkett Smith shortly thereafter.

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October 2018: Pinkett Smith cried on her wedding day because she “never wanted to be married”

Jada Pinkett Smith arrives for the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, in January 2016. Photo: AFP

On the same episode of RTT in which Smith recalled crying in a bathroom stall, Pinkett Smith spoke about being against the idea of marriage and a wedding ceremony – to the point that she was miserable on the day of their nuptials in 1997. “I just never really agreed with the constructs,” she said of her opposition to marriage. “I just don’t agree with it. I never have. I still don’t.”

Pinkett Smith, who was three months pregnant at the time with their son Jaden, said that she was “so upset that I had to have a wedding”.

“I cried the whole way down the aisle,” she added.

October 2018: Smith said that they broke up within their marriage but came back together

Will Smith kisses Jada Pinkett Smith as they arrive for the premiere of Gemini Man at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, in October 2019. Photo: AFP

In part two of their RTT conversation, Pinkett Smith said that the hardest part of their marriage was when she turned 40 in 2011 and she experienced a “midlife crisis”.

“Your 40th birthday was my low point,” Smith said, adding that he “snapped” after Pinkett Smith called him out on her celebration being turned into a “ridiculous display” of his ego. “We essentially had to destroy our marriage,” he said, clarifying that divorce “wasn’t a consideration” for either of them.

After taking time apart, the stars came back together with a new perspective on their dynamic. “We have devoted ourselves to each other in a spiritual sense,” Smith said. “Whatever she needs she can count on me for the rest of her life.”

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July 2020: Pinkett Smith’s relationship with musician August Alsina during a break-up in her marriage to Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith with August Alsina, who was a friend of her son Jaden Smith. Photo: @realrealitygossip/Instagram

Pinkett Smith shared her side of the story on an episode of RTT after Alsina publicly said that they had a relationship “for years”. The Gotham star said that their “entanglement” began around 2016 when she and Smith were experiencing “a difficult time”. She said that the Oscar-winning actor was “done” with her when she met Alsina.

September 2021: Smith revealed that he and Pinkett Smith aren’t monogamous

Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, California, in March 2022. Photo: DPA

Smith said that he and Pinkett Smith “have given each other trust and freedom”.

“And marriage for us can’t be a prison,” he added, saying that both he and Pinkett Smith engaged in “other sexual relationships”. However, Smith decided not to elaborate further because he didn’t want “to deal with the backlash of that in the world”.

March 2022: Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars

US actor Will Smith slaps comedian Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, in March 2022. Photo: AFP

Before presenting the award for best documentary, Rock made a couple of jokes, including one in which he told Pinkett Smith: “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.” Pinkett Smith, who has experienced hair loss due to the autoimmune disease alopecia, had cut her hair off because of her condition.

When Rock took a jab at her appearance, the star simply rolled her eyes. Smith, however, got up from his chair, rushed to the stage and slapped Rock in the face.

Rock played off the assault at the time, saying: “Oh, wow! Wow. Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.”

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US actor Will Smith reacts after winning the Oscar for best actor for King Richard during the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in March 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

But Smith wasn’t done. After returning to his seat next to Pinkett Smith, he shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”

In the aftermath, celebrities in attendance at the Oscars were seen comforting Smith. The actor later apologised for his behaviour later in the evening, when he won an Oscar for his performance in King Richard.

June 2023: Jaden Smith said that Pinkett Smith introduced the family to psychedelics

Will Smith shared a photo behind the scenes of Gemini Man with his family and some cast members. Photo: @willsmith/Instagram

“I think it was my mum, actually, that was really the first one to make that step for the family,” Jaden Smith said at the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver, Colorado. He also added that using psychedelics strengthened his bond with his sister Willow and his half-brother Trey.

Naturally, Pinkett Smith received criticism for introducing her children to hallucinogenic drugs. On a previous episode of RTT, she said that psychedelics improved her mental health.

In an interview with People, published shortly after Smith’s comments, Pinkett Smith played coy and instead told the publication that “it all gets answered” in her newly released memoir Worthy.

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October 2023: Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Smith had actually been separated for the past seven years

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles, US, in March 2022. Photo: AP

Pinkett Smith opens up about their relationship status in her memoir Worthy. She also discussed that bombshell from her book during an interview with Today show co-host Hoda Kotb, as part of a prime-time special airing on Friday on NBC.

She confirmed that while they didn’t legally divorce, they’ve been separated for the past seven years: “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.”

Pinkett Smith also said that they live separately, but refuse to get a divorce.

This article originally appeared on Insider.

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