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 and Will Smith are in it for the long haul — despite revealing last month that they had been secretly separated for seven years.

On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Pinkett Smith opened up about learning to accept her husband for who he is.

(Editor’s Note: The Drew Barrymore Show is currently on hiatus. This article was originally published on November 28, 2023, when this episode first aired. Drew will return with new episodes in January 2024.)

“I think that one of those next stages in relationships is when you really learn how to accept yourself fully, you really learn how to accept your partner fully as well,” she told host Drew Barrymore. “That’s been a journey all in itself.”

The star’s journey to self-realization not only helped her accept Smith, but also Chris Rock — whom her husband infamously slapped at the 2022 Oscars for making a joke at her expense.

“You learn how to accept everyone else even when you’re dealing with their shadow,” she continued. “You just learn how to embrace the light of people as well as the shadow. I love Will as who he is. I’ve learned to love and embrace Chris as who he is. And myself as well. And that’s what it’s about. We’re all here just trying to figure it out.”

While Barrymore didn’t bring up the couple’s headline-making separation too much, she did point out that Smith and Pinkett Smith’s shadows seemed to have become “separated” in the latter’s memoir, Worthy.

“Whether they stay together forever or not — it sounds like you’re staying together forever,” she said, to which Pinkett Smith replied, “We’re staying together forever. I tried. We tried.”

Ahead of her book’s release in October, Pinkett Smith revealed on The Today Show that she and her husband had been secretly separated and living apart since 2016.

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

Despite their struggles, the two never filed for a legal divorce.

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

We’re happy to hear that things are getting back on track for the Smiths!

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.