Jada Pinkett Smith Says She and Will Smith Have Been Separated Since 2016: We Were 'Exhausted with Trying'

"I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be," Jada said in a Wednesday clip on 'Today'

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are living separate lives — and they have been for a while.

In a candid interview on the Today show ahead of the upcoming release of her memoir Worthy, the 52-year-old actress revealed to Hoda Kotb that she and husband Will, 55, have been separated for seven years.

Jada confirmed in a Wednesday preview of the interview, which airs in full Friday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, that her separation from Will wasn't "a divorce on paper," as Kotb worded it, but "by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying."

"I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” she told the television journalist.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Asked by Kotb, 59, about why they haven't spoken out about being separated before now, Jada said they weren't "ready yet" and added that she and the Oscar winner, whom she married on New Year's Eve 1997, were "still trying to figure out, between the two of us, how to be in partnership."

"In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn't figured that out," she said.

The Set It Off actress also said she "made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce," explaining, "We will work through ... whatever."

"I just haven’t been able to break that promise," she added.

Jada and Will have two children together: son Jaden, 25, and daughter Willow, 22. The Emancipation actor also shares son Trey, 30, with ex-wife Sheree Zampino.

Related: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's Relationship Timeline

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Breaks Silence on Marriage, Oscar Slap and Her Path to 'Self-Acceptance' (Exclusive)

In her new book, Jada reflects on the moment Will smacked Chris Rock in the face onstage at the 2022 Academy Awards, after the comedian, 58, made a joke about her shaved head. (Jada lives with alopecia.)

"We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife. But when I hear Will yell “wife” in the chaos of the moment, an internal shift of Oh s--- . . . I am his wife! happens instantly," she writes.

Jada goes on to recall feeling like her teenage self in that moment, "back in a club back in Baltimore, a fight has broken out, and s--- could start popp’n."

"I’m aware that I’m at the Oscars in a beautiful but very heavy forest-green dress with a high neck, a zipper bodice, and a train a thousand miles long, and I’ve had to stay seated all evening," she writes. "But no matter how much growth I’ve recently experienced, my old mechanisms are driving, and my mind is racing with, Oh s---, if I have to fight or run, I’m done! I can’t even get up!"

She adds in the book, "But no matter what, Will and I are in this together."

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Recalls 'Overwhelming Hopelessness' Behind 'So-Called Perfect Life' in First Book Excerpt (Exclusive)

Will and Jada's wedding has long been a subject of fascination by fans. Immediately upon their union, they were crowned Hollywood royalty, which brought a lot of gossip and speculation.

“We’re still figuring it out,” Jada tells PEOPLE in this week's issue about the state of their marriage, confirming they had been separated for six years before the Oscars in 2022. “We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”

As for her kids, “My children, they’re little gurus," the actress says. "They’ve taught me a deep sense of self-acceptance.”

“They love every part of me,” she adds of Jaden, Willow and Trey. “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.”

Worthy is out Tuesday wherever books are sold, and available for preorder now on amazon.com.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.