Amidst a week filled with revelations, Jada Pinkett Smith is keen on setting the record straight on one specific aspect of her marriage.
The 52-year-old actress, whose tell-all memoir, “Worthy,” is scheduled for release on October 17, has been providing insights into her personal life in recent days. She revealed that she and her husband of 25 years, Will Smith, had been separated since 2016—prior to the infamous incident at the 2022 Oscars where Will slapped Chris Rock.
During a conversation with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on Saturday for TalkShopLive, Jada clarified that despite the turbulence in her marriage, infidelity was never a part of the picture.
“I just need people to know, okay, I did not cheat on Will Smith,” she said, addressing the contentious topic that she and Will, aged 55, discussed during a tense episode of “Red Table Talk” in 2020.
Jada emphasized that no infidelity was involved despite “how sad [Will] looked” during the episode in which they discussed her “brief entanglement” with August Alsina. This entanglement occurred while she and her husband were temporarily separated.
As for how she and the “King Richard” actor are doing now, Jada expressed that she is “finally happy.”
“Different things have transpired over the last two years, and Will and I have been doing a lot of healing together. And, you know, have made our way back to this interdependence, this beautiful loving space between us. And we’re family. And we’re figuring it out.”
She added, “Will and I are in a really beautiful place together.”
Her denial of infidelity comes after she told PEOPLE for last week’s issue that neither she nor her husband have ever had an affair, nor do they have an open relationship, despite speculation.
“We eliminated the chance of betrayal,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s talk about it. Let’s work through it together. Let’s be in partnership. Let’s not keep each other in the dark.'”
Jada continued, “I think where that got confusing is that as time went on, there were different stages in my marriage where Will and I decided we were not together. We didn’t tell the public, where I was actually thinking about divorcing, separating. There’ve been several of those where we’ve gone and lived our separate lives. So I think within that is where people might’ve thought that, ‘Oh, they must be having an open relationship.'”
She also acknowledged the widespread speculation about infidelity, especially on her part, after the “Red Table Talk” episode and the subsequent Oscar incident where Will slapped Chris Rock nearly two years ago.
“It was ridiculous in how far it went,” she said of the backlash she faced after the incident, which was sparked when Rock made a joke about her appearing in a future “G.I. Jane” film due to her short hair, prompting Will to slap him.
“But I also understood at the same time. Considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was like some adulteress, Will had never done that before,” she said. “And I think that when we just look at human nature… when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame.”
Jada added that she wasn’t surprised that she was blamed, as people didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes. She emphasized that this was just the nature of human behavior.
