Jada Pinkett Smith has spoken out about the ‘breaking point’ in her relationship with Will Smith, detailing exactly how and when it came about.
Jada has released a new tell-all autobiography Worthy, which promises to ‘spare no details’ on Jada’s life as she shares an ‘intimate conversation with readers’, answering questions about ‘her difficult childhood, her marriage, her parenting style, her career choices, and the intense scrutiny that followed "the slap"’.
The biggest bombshell came while Jada was promoting the book, revealing that she and her husband of more than two decades have actually been secretly separated for years.
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"We’re still figuring it out," Jada told People in an interview to tie in with her new autobiography, Worthy.
"We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us."
She dives into more detail in the book, explaining exactly how the separation came about, revealing ‘feelings were not a priority for Will’ - by his own admission.
“How he felt, how anybody felt, was not a priority,” she said.
“That was a really difficult reality for me to continue to navigate and accept. How many years had I been clinging to ‘we’ll get to that later,’ the time when I could express my need for deeper emotional connection.”
Jada went on: “In hindsight, I see clearly that my fortieth birthday was our breaking point.
“Will’s love language of material and experiential extravagance was how he knew to connect; it was difficult for him to hear that I didn’t need all if that - I just needed him. I needed his heart, his willingness to emotionally connect with me, to receive me and see me.
“Without that, he couldn’t possibly know what I was going through. And without that, I couldn’t find the ground on which to build the appreciation he wanted to feel consistently.
“It was nobody’s fault. As much as I wanted him to love me, that would never happen if I didn’t love myself.
“And the same applied to him. Will and I had pictures in our mind of what a happily married couple was. And our pictures didn’t match.”
Jada said they came to the ‘proverbial stage of irreconcilable differences’, which became ‘starkly apparent’ by 2016.
However, she said they’d ‘been here before’, having gone through several ‘on-again and off-again attempts at salvaging the marriage’.
Jada admitted that divorce was a ‘real option’ at times but that, despite rumours, she could never find it in her heart to meet with a single lawyer.
“Throughout, I had chosen the discomfort of staying in my ailing marriage over destroying our family and the community we had created,” Jada wrote.
“I was smart enough to admit I was too immature to launch a legal battle without creating a bloodbath.”
She added: “So, at the end of 2016, Will and I looked each other in the eyes and decided to separate in every way except legally.
“For us, what mattered most was mutual agreement and informing our children of our separation.
“We would remain family-strong, not lose our friendship, and maintain our policy of complete transparency - i.e., no secrets about what were doing and whom we were doing it with.”
Topics: Jada Pinkett Smith, Celebrity, Will Smith
Jess Hardiman