Jada Pinkett Smith Says She and Will Smith Lived as 'Single' People After They 'Broke Up in 2016'

The actress said she and husband Will Smith have had "several breakups" throughout their relationship

Jada Pinkett Smith is sharing more about her separation from husband Will Smith.

The Worthy author is a guest on a new episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, speaking about her childhood, career and relationships in a wide-ranging conversation.

At one point, Jada, 52, talked about her relationship with Will, 55, whom she married in 1997. She explained that she had to "dissolve my romanticism around what I thought marriage would be, should be."

According to Jada, "there have been several breakups between Will and I" over the course of their marriage, including a "big breakup" around her 40th birthday in 2011.

"We were actually looking towards separating and divorcing, and we separated. The world just didn't know," she recalled. "Then we had a reconciliation. And then 2016 came, and we had the ultimate break. But the world didn't know."

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Denies Open Marriage, Says She and Will 'Still Figuring Out' Relationship (Exclusive)

She adds, "I think that that's where some of the misconception about having an open marriage came into play because we were living lives as single people and the world didn't know...."

The Girls Trip actress said when they "broke up in 2016, "he went on to live a life as a single man, I went on to live a life as a single woman."

In her book Worthy, Jada reveals she and Will "had been living separate lives and were" at the 2022 Oscars that night "as family, not as husband and wife." Jada further confirmed she and Will have been separated since 2016 in an NBC News primetime special with Hoda Kotb.

During that interview, Kotb asked, "Why not just amicably divorce?" to which Jada replied, "We don't want to."

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"We love our family. And we love each other. It's more of a life partnership," she explained, adding with a laugh, "Now, 10 years from now, Hoda? Who knows."

Kotb asked, "Do y'all have a deal, though, that if you start dating someone you tell him? Or if he starts dating someone he tells you?"

"Well, you know, right now what we're focused on, which has been so beautiful, is deep healing because of everything that's transpired," said Jada. "Now, what happens after that I don't know yet."

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Says Chris Rock Asked Her Out on a Date amid Rumors She and Will Were Divorcing (Exclusive)

She told PEOPLE "we’re still figuring it out," in regards to her marriage with Will.

"A lot has happened. The thing about relationships is that it's constantly moving. Relationships are, it's an organism. It's its own thing. It's constantly shifting and constantly moving. There's a lot that's transpired in the last two years, and so we've been doing some really heavy-duty work together.”

Worthy is available Tuesday wherever books are sold.

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