Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She & Will Smith Have Been Separated for 7 Years

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are separated — and they have been since 2016.

The actress reveals the news in her new memoir “Worthy,” opening up about their relationship to “Today’s” Hoda Kotb.

Hoda noted, “In 2016, you and Will decided that you were going to live completely separate lives. It wasn’t a divorce on paper, but it was a divorce.” Jada answered, “Yeah.”

The TV anchor went on to ask Jada why they hadn’t spoken about the split until now. Jada said, “I think just not being ready yet. Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership, and in regards to how do we present that to people, and we hadn’t figured that out.”

As for why the relationship fractured, Pinkett Smith said, “That’s a lot of things. I think by the time we got to 2016, we were both just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

They did consider a legal divorce, but Jada said, “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,” believing “We will work through... whatever."

She added, "I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”

Pinkett Smith also opened up about her marriage to People in this week’s issue, saying, “We’re still figuring it out. 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.”

It was after they separated that Jada had an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina, and the newly revealed timeline also means that Jada and Will weren’t together when he defended her at the Oscars, slapping Chris Rock over a joke.

In an excerpt of her book “Worthy” obtained by People, Jada addresses the 2022 Oscars incident.

Pinkett Smith writes, "We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife. But when I hear Will yell ‘wife’ in the chaos of the moment, an internal shift of, ‘Oh, sh*t… I am his wife!’ happens instantly.”

Jada recalled feeling like she was "back in a club back in Baltimore, a fight has broken out, and sh*t could start popp’n."

The star explained, "I’m aware that I’m at the Oscars in a beautiful but very heavy forest-green dress with a high neck, a zipper bodice, and a train a thousand miles long, and I’ve had to stay seated all evening. But no matter how much growth I’ve recently experienced, my old mechanisms are driving, and my mind is racing with, ‘Oh, sh*t, if I have to fight or run, I’m done! I can’t even get up!’"

Jada insisted, "But no matter what, Will and I are in this together."