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Jada Pinkett Smith

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Jada Pinkett Smith Gives Update On Where She Stands With Will Smith After Separation Bombshell On ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’: “We’re Staying Together Forever”

Jada Pinkett Smith is coming clean. According to the actress, she and her husband Will Smith have been secretly “separated” for seven years — meaning they were not together when he infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

The former Red Table Talk host opened up about their fractured relationship on The Today Show while promoting her new memoir, Worthy. She revealed that they kept up the ruse of still being together because they were “still trying to figure out” how to be in “a partnership.”

When Hoda Kotb asked what led to their demise, Jada admitted it was “a lot of things.”

“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” she said. “I think we were both still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

While Jada — who tied the knot with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air star in 1997 — considered a legal divorce, she explained why she couldn’t go through with it.

“I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,” she said. “We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith — Photo: Getty Images

What’s more surprising is that they were separated for six years before Will slapped Rock for making a joke at the expense of his estranged wife at the 94th Academy Awards. In a separate interview with People, the Girls Trip star reflected on the moment that shocked the world.

“I thought, ‘This is a skit.’ I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him,'” she recalled. “It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”

As for where they stand now, Jada — who confirmed that they “live separately” — said they are “still figuring it out.”

“We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together,” she told People. “We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like.”

Meanwhile, Jada credited her children — Jaden, Willow and Trey — for helping her through the difficult times.

“My children, they’re little gurus. They’ve taught me a deep sense of self-acceptance,” she said. “They love every part of me. The level of love, unconditional love that they have for me and their dad. And it’s one thing to want to be the person that gives that unconditional love. And then there’s, to be the recipient of that.”