The Hollywood couple married in 1997 and will probably celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary as a married couple. They haven’t been lovers at all for seven years. Even though they haven’t been a couple for seven years. The fact that they “lead completely separate lives” doesn’t stop them from staying married. Jada Pinkett Smith explained why in an interview with NBC.
The two have not been married since 2016. Each lives their own lives and yet they remain connected, and not just through the paper that seals their marriage. It had been known for some time that the two had opted for the open marriage model. In an interview with GQ magazine in 2021, the actor said: “For most of our relationship, we chose monogamy, but our marriage just didn’t work that way any longer.” But the fact that Will Smith and his wife have been going their separate ways for seven years now is news to the public.
Pinkett Smith sees the reason for the separation in 2016 as being that both were exhausted from many clarifying conversations and discussions. Both were too attached to the idea that the other had to be the ideal partner.
In an interview with presenter Hoda Kotb, Jada Pinkett Smith explains why it wasn’t even noticeable to the public, because the former lovers still feel connected on a deep level. When Kotb asks why the Smiths aren’t getting a divorce, Jada Pinkett Smith’s answer is clear: “We don’t want that,” and continues: “We love our family and we love each other. You know, it’s more of a civil partnership. Who knows, maybe in ten years?” She sees her marriage and her relationship with Will Smith as much more than a civil partnership, even if over time the love has taken on a level other than romantic.
Jada Pinkett Smith also cleverly avoids the moderator’s question as to whether the two of them would then have some kind of deal to meet other people more intimately: “At the moment we are concentrating on what was beautiful and on deep healing – after everything that happened. I don’t know what happens after that,” explains Pinkett Smith.
Kotb follows up and asks if there could be a chance for reconciliation: “You know, he’s getting old. I’ll tell you when he gets old who’s going to be there for him, Hoda, it’ll be me. It’ll be me “I’ll be there,” said Will Smith’s estranged wife.
But back to the beginnings of this Hollywood love, here too Jada Pinkett Smith goes into detail and reveals that she met Will Smith in 1994 when he was still married to Sheree Zampino. He contacted her again and again until Pinkett Smith said she didn’t want contact with a married man. He respected her wishes. But a year later the phone rang again. Will Smith got divorced and promptly contacted Jada. She says: “He called me and asked, ‘Where are you?’ and I said, ‘I’m in Baltimore. He said, ‘Are you coming back to LA?’ and I said yes. He wanted to know if I was seeing anyone else and I said no. He then said, ‘Good, because you’re meeting me now.’ “Just direct. I kind of liked that,” said the 52-year-old.
Sources: Daily Mail, Spiegel, Today
