Longtime fans of the celebrity pair have expressed confusion over their complex relationship.
Will Smith and his family are Hollywood royalty.
But what is the actual status of his marriage to Jada?
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on March 27, 2022. (Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Are Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith still married?
In late 2023, Jada Pinkett Smith shared her marital status with NBC News.
She was, she explained, still very much married to Will Smith — albeit on paper.
According to Jada, the couple had been secretly but effectively separated since 2016. At the time, that meant seven years of leading their own lives while masquerading as a still-committed couple.
“Yes, it was not a divorce on paper, but it was a divorce,” Jada told Today Show host Hoda Kotb.
She then touched upon rumors that had circulated about the couple. Some wild claims included whispers that the two were in a lavender marriage, or that they were swingers.
“I can definitely understand why there would be misunderstandings,” Jada diplomatically acknowledged. “But none of it’s true.”
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend Apple Original Films’ “Emancipation” Los Angeles premiere at Regency Village Theatre on November 30, 2022. (Photo Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Why haven’t Jada and Will just gotten a divorce?
Naturally, most people with the financial means to move on might find it easier to split than to pretend that their relationship remains unchanged.
“I think just not being ready yet,” Jada reasoned. “Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in a partnership.”
She continued: “And in regards to how do we present that to people, you know? And we hadn’t figured that out.”
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 13, 2022. (Photo Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)
“I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” Jada expressed. “I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
She admitted: “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.”
When it comes to divorcing now, even when this is no longer a secret, Jada emphasized: “We don’t want to. We love our family. And we love each other. It’s more of a life partnership. Ten years from now, Hoda, who knows?”
Will Smith attends the Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Focus” premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on February 24, 2015. (Photo Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
What has Will Smith shared about this?
In 2023, Will Smith told The New York Times that his wife’s open and honest discussion of matters of the head and heart were inspirational to him.
“When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life, a sort of emotional blindness sets in,” he characterized.
Will acknowledged: “You can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties.”
Will Smith and his wife actress Jada Pinkett Smith attend the World Premiere of Disneys Aladdin at El Capitan theatre on May 21, 2019. (Photo Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
On Thursday, May 30, 2024, Will Smith made a public appearance with his family for the Bad Boys: Ride or Die premiere. That includes still-wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
His son Trey, whom he shares with ex-wife Sheree Zampino, was there. So were son Jaden and daughter Willow, whom he shares with Jada. Jada’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, was also present.
Will Smith and Jada are not divorced. But it’s clear that neither of them know exactly what the future holds for their family. They’re doing what works, for as long as it works.
Sheree Zampino attends Muse By Haleh Mashian at Mash Gallery on September 10, 2022. (Photo Credit: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Mash Gallery)
Will Smith previously married and divorced Sheree Zampino
In May of 1992, Will and Sheree married. They welcomed their son, Trey, in November of that year.
The married did not last. In 1995, the couple divorced — a painful decision that continues to haunt Will Smith, as he memorably told Jada on Red Table Talk in 2020.
“Divorce was the worst thing in my adult life, divorce was the ultimate failure for me,” Will Smith expressed. “I’ve been hurt a lot in my adult life, but I don’t think anything touches the failure of getting divorced from my 2-year-old son’s mother.”
Both Will and Sheree moved on. Will married Jada in 1996. Sheree married Terrell Fletcher in 2007, though the two would divorce in 2014.
Many people know Sheree best from The Real Housewives. She joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2002, both as a successful businesswoman and as a famous Hollywood ex.
Sheree and Will have managed to act as co-parents for Trey, even as exes. This has continued into Trey’s adulthood. Loving family units come in many shapes and sizes, and exes can still be family.
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