Jada Pinkett Smith says her sex life can be 'hard,' but insists she's 'never had an issue'

Gwyneth Paltrow is very open to discussing sex on her Netflix show "Sex, Love & Goop," and now she's encouraging Jada Pinkett Smith to do the same on "Red Table Talk." 

In Wednesday's episode of "Red Table Talk," the Goop founder and "The Politician" star revealed that she wasn't always so open talking about sex, especially when she was growing up.

"You know, I'm old, so we didn't have this kind of openness at all in the culture," Paltrow, 49, confessed, when host Pinkett Smith, 50, asked who taught her about sex.

Pinkett Smith continued the open conversation and discussed how her sex life with husband Will Smith has been "hard" after being with him for more than 20 years, in comparison to Paltrow, who has been married for three years, and Pinkett Smith's mother Adrienne Banfield Norris, who has been married for five years. 

"(The) thing that Will and I talk about a lot is the journey. I mean, we started in this at a very young age. You know, 22 years old," Pinkett Smith said. "I think you expect your partner to know, especially when it comes to sex. It's like, ‘Well, if you love me, you should know.’ You know what I mean? If you love me, you should read my mind." 

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Paltrow said expecting a partner to know what we want without communicating needs is a "huge pitfall." 

After the episode aired on Facebook Watch, Pinkett Smith clarified her comments on the show with a tweet, writing: "Will and I have NEVER had an issue in the bedroom. Thank you."

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The "Girls Trip" actress continued the episode saying she works to hold herself "accountable" to better communicate her needs to her husband. 

"I really try. It's uncomfortable, but it's deeply healthy I think around sex because it's something that we don't talk about, and there's so much fantasy around it," she added. 

Paltrow is no stranger to opening up about sex. In the six-episode series "Sex, Love & Goop" (now streaming), she enlists the help of experts on relationships and intimacy to help couples improve their partnerships.

"I always say sex and relationships, that area is really indicative of what we still have to work on," Paltrow told USA TODAY ahead of the show's Oct. 21 premiere. "So we thought it would be a fascinating subject."

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In the show, couples speak about their issues in a group setting with Paltrow, and then each works with an expert on their specific problems.

"As a woman in my 20s, there wasn't really a rubric for being comfortable with pleasure or talking about sexuality," Paltrow told USA TODAY. "I really appreciate that this show destigmatizes that and creates a space for people to ask for what they want and to explore who they are as a sexual being.

"I think the world would be a lot better off if people didn't feel shame and didn't feel that there was something wrong with them and that they had a space with their partner to explore and heal those things."

Paltrow, who married producer Brad Falchuk, 50, in 2018, also addressed the social pressure of finding "the one" and living "happily ever after."

"That myth sets us up for failure, probably more than any other myth in life, because the work begins when you get married," she told USA TODAY. "It's how you show up, and the willingness to understand that it's always work and that you're always responsible for 50% of the relationship."

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Contributing: Erin Jensen