Will Smith is a single man — and has been for years. Now we are really confused
Jada Pinkett dropped a bombshell on Wednesday, and what she revealed was about as shocking as her hubby slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
The Red Table talker told Hoda Kotb of “Today” that she and Will Smith are not only currently separated, but have been for years on end — since 2016, to be exact.
Fans of the Hollywood couple will recall Pinkett admitted to having an “entanglement” that same year with singer August Alsina.
There was also some chatter that Smith — who wrote that he split briefly with Jada in 2011 in his own 2021 memoir “Will” — had something going on with “Barbie,” aka Margot Robbie. The gorgeous Aussie was his costar in the 2015 movie “Focus” and then “Suicide Squad” a year later, which premiered with a huge block party in Wynwood.
Rumors had been rampant that Jada and Will were in an open marriage, so the talk eventually died down (and, well, Robbie got married).
Still, we can’t help but feel a wee bit deceived. All those times Smith was running around his beloved Miami amid the separation — filming “Bad Boys 3,” documenting his colonoscopy, pretending to be a Lyft driver, and partying at nightclubs, the Fresh Prince was living la vida single with his wedding ring firmly in place.
OK, so maybe the “King Richard” star deserves another (honorary) Oscar.
So if the parents of two, who got married on New Year’s Eve in 1997, are not together, why the show? According to Pinkett, they just didn’t know how to break the news to the world.
“In regards to, how do we present that to people?” Pinkett told Kotb, whose jaw remained on the floor throughout the chat. “We hadn’t figured that out.”
So those open marriage rumors weren’t just rumors, and sometimes you can believe everything you read.
“I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” Pinkett said frankly. “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever, and I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”
We’ll read more about the exes’, um, unique arrangement in her upcoming memoir “Worthy;” the full interview with Kotb airs at 8 p.m. Friday on NBC.
This story was originally published October 12, 2023 at 12:15 PM.
