Jada Pinkett Smith Tells ‘Live’ She Left The Oscars After The Slap As Will Smith’s “Wife,” Despite Their Separation: “We Have To Get Through This Together” 

On this morning’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, Jada Pinkett Smith sat down with co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos to discuss her new memoir, Worthy.

Since she began promoting her new novel, Pinkett Smith has revealed stunning information about her relationship with Will Smith, including that they have been separated for the last seven years. This bombshell meant that the two were not together when Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars for making fun of Pinkett Smith.

“At that particular point in time, we were in therapeutic spaces because he had just finished [Emancipation], where he played a slave, and a lot of stuff came up for him,” Pinkett Smith explained on Live. “So he was like, ‘Will you get back into therapy with me?’ And I said, absolutely. We started doing some really deep work. And then he got nominated, right? And he was like, ‘You know what, there’s nobody I would rather share this moment with. Would you share this moment with me?'”

While she was “happy” that he had invited her, she was not expecting what was to come for the rest of the night.

Ripa, who said she finished Pinkett Smith’s book “in 12 hours,” told her, “When I read the way you saw it, that was the way we saw it,” referring to how she perceived the slap as a “bit.”

“It looked like Chris slipped the shot and so I was like oh, this is definitely a bit,” Pinkett Smith clarified, noting that she has seen Smith “knock out professional fighters” and that he’s a “heavy hitter.”

She continued, “Chris was still standing, there was no blood, there was no swelling, what have you. And I was like, oh, this is a bit. This is a strange bit, but OK.”

She said that when Smith came back, she sensed that “something [was] off [and] something [was] not right.”

“He sits down, and I just look at him and I’m like, ‘Are you ok?'” she asked. “And it wasn’t until his publicist came out and said, ‘Chris has left the building. He’s not going to press charges.'”

Confused as to what Rock would press charges for, she eventually learned that Smith’s slap was, in fact, real.

“And I was like, well alright, we’re in this together now,” she added. “I didn’t come in here as your wife, but I’m leaving as your wife because we’re going to have to get through this together.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check their website for local listings. Worthy is out on Tuesday, Oct. 17.