Did Jada Pinkett Smith Hurt August Alsina's ‘Spirit’ (& Career) by Keeping Their Affair Secret?

Julie Sprankles
·5 min read

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Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s marriage has been the talk of the internet over the past few weeks, and R&B singer August Alsina has been at the center of the conversation. Now, Alsina is speaking out about his “entanglement” with Pinkett Smith and why it was “necessary” for him to come forward about their secret relationship. Spoiler alert? Keeping it covert affected Alsina more than you may think.

ICYMI, Pinkett Smith slid into the role of guest on her Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk last week so she and Smith could discuss what went down with Alsina. Interestingly, Alsina hasn’t even watched that internet-breaking interview yet (he’s seen “small clips floating on Instagram”). But he has been privy to the online chatter about his decision to publicize his former relationship with Pinkett Smith. So, why did he — really? “People looked at me as this problematic guy who was super reckless, like I’m pushing up on someone’s wife,” he explained to Vulture in an interview published Friday. “I didn’t really like that. I didn’t like the sound of that, especially when it wasn’t the truth.”

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He continued, “I think because people didn’t have the truth, it allowed them to view me and my character a certain type of way. And that started to really eat at my soul, but deeper than that, it started to fuck with my partnerships and business relationships and money because of people seeing me as this reckless guy who’s, like, publicly announcing his love and pushing up on somebody’s wife, quote, unquote.”

Alsina’s original interview apparently did what he hoped it would: clear the air. “A lot of those people in partnerships came back around and apologized like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, my bad. I really didn’t know,’” he revealed, pointing out that his livelihood is crucial because he has “three kids to take care of now” — he was appointed legal guardian of his sister Chandra’s daughters when she passed away from cancer in 2018.

“I don’t like to walk around the elephant [in the room]. That doesn’t feel good. It felt like an elephant sitting on my spirit after a while. It was a difficult decision. I never want to be the one causing a ruckus. I never want to be problematic in any kind of way. But after talking to a few people that I have love for and respect and who’ve been in this business for some time, and even people outside the business that have been respectful, they also thought that I should free myself in that way,” he said. “That’s all it’s about. I’ve never spoken on anything else. I’ve never given any detail about anything and really don’t feel the need to, but this has only been mainly been about my freedom.”

Alsina went on to emphasize that he agreed with Pinkett Smith’s characterization of their relationship, saying, “If you look up the definition of ‘entanglement,’ it is a complex and difficult relationship. It was exactly that.”

He also insisted there’s no ill will between him and Pinkett Smith or Smith (“They’re beautiful people”). Coming clean about the relationship was simply a matter of liberating himself from something that was keeping him from living his full truth. “It started to kind of eat at my life force. That’s really what it’s about more than anything,” he elaborated. “But there’s no bad blood with anybody. They [the Smiths] got [the Angela Yee interview] way before the world ever saw it. It came from a loving place. There’s no bad love with anybody. I got love for everybody on this planet.”

And now that all is said and done, Alsina feels like everything worked out the way it should.

“I don’t regret it at all because I know that on this planet, there is not much harmony, and there is not much love, so when you’re actually given love, real love that you’ve never experienced, it is a gift,” he said of the time he spent with Pinkett Smith and everything that has transpired since. “No matter how complex or hard it may be to face or whatever, that’s the gift.”

Before you go, click here to see other celebrities who’ve stayed together through affairs.

Launch Gallery: Celebrity Couples Who Stayed Together After Cheating Scandals

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