Jada Pinkett Smith Opens up About Infidelity in Her Marriage with Will Smith
In the latest episode of Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Jones, welcomed renowned relationship therapist Esther Perel as a guest. The week's topic was infidelity, and Pinkett Smith opened up about her own marriage with Will Smith and its "betrayals." She explained what made her husband feel "abandoned" at one point in their relationship.
Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother and co-host, Adrienne Banfield Jones, sat down with renowned relationship psychotherapist Esther Perel on Monday to unpack yet another hot topic: infidelity. The mother-daughter duo first opened up about their own experiences, admitting they had both been cheated on and had affairs during previous relationships.
During the conversation, Smith said that Perel's teachings had been "instrumental" in resolving issues in her marriage to Will Smith.
"I'm asked a lot about, 'Is there infidelity in your relationship with Will?' And it's like, no, but there have been other betrayals of the heart that have been far bigger than I can even think in regards to an infidelity situation," Pinkett Smith said.
She went on to elaborate on one of those betrayals, saying that, "Our whole life looked like his dream. I'm his energy source. That's great, but I've got to create a part of this life that is designed and looks like me."
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In response, Perel asked how Smith reacted to this revelation, with Pinkett Smith saying "he felt abandoned at first." But once their issues were put out on the table, the famous couple were able to work towards a resolution that improved their relationship.
"Specifically, for me in regards to creating now, redefining my marriage as a life partnership was the necessity of autonomy for myself and for Will. And finding the core of us that wanted to be together outside of the constraints of the traditional ideas of marriage, because they weren't working for us," she said.
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The Aladdin actor had previously talked about their new title as "life partners" in 2018, during a conversation on TIDAL's Rap Radar podcast, explaining that his wife "has my support 'til death."
But as the RTT host explained, it was by no means easy getting to that peaceful place. She not only had to look at what her partner could work on, but at her own faults as well, particularly with her own late dad.
"I wanted to personally break out of Will needing to be something for me because I felt like it was so unfair. And a lot of it had to do with my father issues," Pinkett Smith said. "I just realized one day and said this man is not your father... You gotta grow up. You gotta be a woman. That little girl trauma does not work here. And that was the work I had to do...We goin' have to be in this thing as individuals and we goin' have to be real grown in this."
To catch the full episode, watch above.
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