Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have said their marriage is not a conventional one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pinkett Smith this week has\u00a0revealed\u00a0that she and Smith, who married in 1997, have been living \u201ccompletely separate lives\u201d since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s some of what they have said about marriage over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Smith celebrated what was their 20th anniversary in 2017\u00a0with a\u00a0throwback picture\u00a0of their wedding and a heartfelt caption that noted, \u201c20 Years Ago Today we held hands and walked naively down that aisle. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLove is Like Gardening\u2026 I have learned to focus on HELPING you to BLOSSOM into what YOU want to be (into what you were born to be),\u201d Smith wrote. \u201cRather than Demanding that you become what my Fragile Ego needs you to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He ended the post with \u201cHappy Anniversary, My Queen! I am forever Devoted to Nurturing your Deepest Truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That same year, Pinkett Smith appeared on \u201cWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen\u201d and answered a viewer question about the \u201ccraziest\u201d rumor she\u2019s heard about her family. Pinkett Smith said it was that she and her husband were swingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018Yo, I wish!\u201d she said laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Cohen asked her how she kept things \u201chot\u201d with her husband, Pinkett Smith said, \u201cI really think that Will and I just have amazing chemistry on a lot of different levels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe love to laugh together, we love to learn together and we just love each other,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe just have a good time together. Yeah, I guess that\u2019s the secret. Yeah, we just really like each other!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pinkett Smith appeared on\u00a0Sway\u2019s Universe\u00a0in 2018 and declared that she and Smith \u201care family,\u201d no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTake out all that whole marriage\/ relationship crap, at the end of the day, Will and I are family. I am going to hold him down, doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d she said. \u201cAll that relationship and what people think ideas of a husband, partner and all that, man, whatever. At the end of the day, that is a man that can rely on me for the rest of his life, period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A caller later asked how Pinkett Smith dealt with \u201cindiscretions\u201d in her marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs much as we wish our partners could be perfect, as much as we wish that they never hurt us, as much as we wish that they came into relationships with no flaws and had everything figured out, we don\u2019t,\u201d Pinkett Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also that year, Smith appeared on\u00a0Tidal\u2019s Rap Radar podcast\u00a0and caused headlines when he revealed that he and Pinkett Smith \u201cdon\u2019t even say we\u2019re married anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere\u2019s no deal breakers. There\u2019s nothing she could do \u2014 ever. Nothing [\u2026] would break our relationship. She has my support till death and it feels so good to get to that space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021, Smith\u00a0talked to GQ\u00a0about his forthcoming memoir in which he wrote about the ups and downs in his relationship with his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One down was in 2011, when he planned a 40th birthday party for Pinkett Smith that included a documentary he made about her life that traced her family back to slavery. The actress didn\u2019t like it and told Smith, \u201cThat was the most disgusting display of ego I have ever seen in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur marriage wasn\u2019t working,\u201d Smith wrote in his book. \u201cWe could no longer pretend. We were both miserable and clearly something had to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He confirmed to GQ that their marriage became non-monogamous, explaining that \u201cJada never believed in conventional marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up. There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple?\u201d he said. \u201d And for the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith expanded on what that meant to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can\u2019t be a prison,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t suggest our road for anybody. I don\u2019t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we\u2019ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Smiths\u00a0appeared on her \u201cRed Table Talk\u201d\u00a0in 2020 to discuss the romantic relationship she had with singer August Alsina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0pair said\u00a0the \u201centanglement\u201d happened during \u201ca very difficult time\u201d in their marriage, but they had since made it to a place of \u201cunconditional love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI told you the first year we were married, that I could love you through anything,\u201d Will Smith said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple bumped fists as they jokingly recited their rendition of his \u201cBad Boys\u201d movie motto: \u201cWe ride together, we die together. Bad marriage for life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n
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