Jada Pinkett Smith And Will Smith Have Actually Been Separated Since 2016

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Jada Pinkett Smith just dropped major news about her relationship with husband Will Smith. In an interview with Hoda Kotb, the actress confirmed that the couple has been living "completely separate lives" since 2016. And while they are not technically divorced, the news hit like a bombshell.

Jada will reportedly go into more details about her relationship with Will in her upcoming memoir, Worthy.

The couple has made major headlines throughout their relationship—including in 2015, when news broke that Jada was romantically involved with R&B singer August Alsina, and again in 2022, when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars over an offensive joke about Jada's hair loss.

Here's everything to know about Will and Jada's entire relationship timeline, from the minute they crossed paths to where they stand now:

1994: They met on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Way back when, Will was best known for playing a hilarious, trash-talking teenager on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Jada auditioned for a role as his girlfriend on the show. She didn’t get the part because she was too short, Jada told Extra in 2017.

Still, Will and Jada obviously formed a connection that day.

1995: They start dating.

When Jada was on the TV show A Different World, Will's interest in her grew. "I knew there was something in our energy that would be magic," he said on a 2018 Red Table Talk episode. Buuut he was married to Sheree Fletcher at the time.

"I had a realization I wasn’t with the person I was supposed to be with," Will said, explaining a breakthrough he had during a dinner with his then-wife.

"I was sitting in a stall and I was crying and laughing uncontrollably, and I knew [Jada] was the woman I was supposed to be with, but I was never getting divorced...I went back out, sat down with Sheree and started going back on with my life."

1995: Will got divorced.

Will and Sheree officially divorced in 1995 (Sheree filed against Will, according to TODAY) and Jada moved from Baltimore to California to be with Will, the couple shared on an episode of Red Table Talk.

Then, Will reportedly called Jada up and asked if she was "seeing anyone." When Jada said she wasn't, Will responded, "Good. You're seeing me now," according to TODAY.

1997: Will and Jada got engaged, married, and pregnant.

Will proposed in November 1997, and Jada told People that things were kind of a whirlwind from there. "One day we got engaged, and the next day we found out we were pregnant," Jada said.

They got married a month later.

Apparently, Jada wasn’t into the whole wedding thing because she later said on Red Table Talk, "I was so upset that I had to have a wedding. I was so pissed. I went crying down the freakin' aisle getting married."

The actress was also in her first trimester of pregnancy with her son, Jaden, at the time, so the experience was "horrible," she later said.

In his memoir, Will, the actor wrote that their wedding was the first of Jada's "many compromises" that went against her values in their marriage, per TODAY.

July 1998: The couple’s son, Jaden, was born.

Jaden Christopher Syre Smith was the couple’s first child. He was born on July 21, 1998.

Jaden takes after his parents, and has starred with his dad in two movies—After Earth and The Pursuit of Happyness. He also has a pretty successful music career—and has released three albums since 2014.

2000: Their daughter, Willow, was born.

Like her brother, Willow has also made a name for herself in show business. She appeared in I Am Legend alongside her dad and released the song "Whip My Hair" in 2010.

Since, she's also released five albums—including a collaboration with Tyler Cole, "Meet Me At Our Spot," that became a huge hit, peaking at 21 on the Billboard charts.

She also does Red Table Talk with her mom and grandmother, Adrienne Norris. Oh, and fun fact: Willow was born on Halloween!

2011: Their marriage faces its first rough patch.

While they did not publicly speak of it, Will later wrote in his memoir that he and Jada first experienced a rough patch in their marriage around 2011, per TODAY.

"Our marriage wasn't working," he wrote. "We could no longer pretend. We were both miserable and clearly something had to change."

2013: Jada made comments about their relationship, leading some to think it was an open marriage.

"I’ve always told Will, 'You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay,'" she told Huff Post Live. "Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that's not for me to do for him. Or vice versa."

Jada later went on Facebook and clarified her comments with this: "Here is how I will change my statement...Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship...this means we have a GROWN one," she wrote.

2016: They quietly separated.

The two were pretty mum on the details, Jada and Will separated at some point in 2016. During that time, Jada was in her "entanglement" with rapper August Alsina.

Will made it clear that the couple were separated at the time.

"I was done with your ass… I was done with you," Will said on Jada’s Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk. "Marriages have that, though. We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time and you go figure out how to make yourself happy and I’ll try to figure out how to make myself happy. I really felt like we could be over."

Jada said it was important for her to clear up rumors that Will had given his "permission" for the relationship with August. "The only person who could give permission in that particular circumstance is myself," she said.

"It was a relationship, absolutely," Jada said. "I was in a lot of pain, and I was very broken."

At the time, it seemed the couple was able to move past Jada's affair. However, given her recent comments, it's unclear whether they ever got back together after this point.

"I'm grateful for the journey you and I have had together, because I feel like there are a lot of couples that go through those periods, and a lot of couples that have to separate and think it's over," she said. "One thing I'll say about you and I is that there has never been secrets."

2018: Will called Jada his "life partner."

Will went on Rap Radar and had this to say about his wife: "We don’t even say we’re married anymore. We refer to ourselves as 'life partners,' where you get into that space where you realize you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life.

There’s no deal breakers. There’s nothing she could do—ever—nothing that would break our relationship. She has my support til death, and it feels so good to get to that space."

2020: Will and Jada say they’re as tight as ever.

During the Red Table Talk episode, Will and Jada made it clear that their relationship is super solid now. "We have really gotten to that new place of unconditional love," Jada said.

2021: Jada says Will loves her new, bald look.

Last year, Jada explained on Instagram that Willow convinced her to shave her head. The actress revealed her alopecia diagnosis in 2018, and has since been open about her hair loss.

As for Will, "he loves it," Jada told Tiffany Haddish during another Red Table Talk episode. She said Will texted a photo of her new look to Willow: “He was like, ‘Stunning.'"

“It was just time," Jada continued about her decision. "I was just ready for that kind of expression and release. I’m so glad I did it. It was such a beautiful experience and such a freedom. I feel more connected to myself and to the great divine in a very special way."

2021: Will says his marriage "can't be a prison."

In an interview with GQ, Will opened up about the ups-and-downs of his marriage. "Marriage for us can’t be a prison," he told the publication.

"And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.”

Will further opened up about how some of his choices, including participating in a traditional wedding ceremony, and purchasing a home Jada didn't want, added to the tension in the couple's marriage.

2022: Will and Jada attend the Oscars.

Will and Jada stepped onto the red carpet together at the 94th Academy Awards in March 2022.

After his confrontation with Chris Rock, Will addressed the crowd in his acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for his performance in King Richard.

“I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees," he said. "Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. Love will make you do crazy things.”

In June 2022, Jada also commented on Will's behavior at the Oscars on an episode of Red Table Talk, and said she hoped that her husband and Chris Rock would reconcile.

"Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together," she said.

October 2023: Jada says that she and Will have been separated since 2016.

Despite prior statements from both Will and Jada that contradict this, Jada claims that she and Will have been separated and living "completely separate lives" since 2016.

In an interview with Hoda Kotb for an NBC Primetime Special, Jada confirmed that while the couple is not legally separated, she does consider them to be "divorced." The actress also said that she hasn't been able to go through with a legal filing.

"I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through... whatever," she told Kotb, per TODAY. "I just haven’t been able to break that promise."

When prompted for more details on why the couple never disclosed their relationship status, Jada said, "we were just not ready yet," and that the couple was unsure of how to present their dynamic to the public.

Still, the couple seem at least on good terms. Jada has posted a family photo, including Will, as recently as August 2023 and celebrated his birthday with a post in September.

For more details regarding the couple's current status, you can watch the entire special on NBC on October 17, 2023 at 8 p.m. or purchase Jada's upcoming memoir, Worthy.

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