Jada Pinkett-Smith Reveals Secret 7-Year Split from Will: ‘We’re Still Figuring It Out’

Jada calls her children her gurus for helping her grow self-acceptance.

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US actor Will Smith and his wife actress Jada Pinkett Smith arrive for the premiere of Apple Original Films' "Emancipation" at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California, on November 30, 2022. MICHAEL TRAN / AFP via Getty Images

Jada Pinkett Smith has come clean about her seven-year secret separation from her husband, Will Smith. The 52-year-old actress has been candid about the couple's efforts to "figure out" their marriage, as reported by The Sun.

Jada, Will, and Their Children

While Jada was pregnant with their now 25-year-old son Jaden, she married Will, 55, on New Year's Eve 1997 in Baltimore.

She reflected on their relationship by telling People, "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."

She went on to say that her children serve as her little gurus as they have helped her develop a strong feeling of self-acceptance.

Aside from Jaden, Will and Jada have a 22-year-old daughter named Willow. Trey, Will's son from a previous marriage, is now 30 years old.

In an interview with Hota Kotb set to broadcast on Friday, October 13, at 8:00 PM ET on NBC News, Jada will dish additional facts about their relationship. In a sneak peek video, Hoda questioned Jada about an event from 2016 in their marriage.

"From the year 2016, which is seven years ago now, y'all have been..." the Today show host gestured distance or separation with her hands to finish the sentence, to which Jada responded, "Yes."

Jada's 2020 Confession

Will and Jada's breakup news comes after they confessed in 2020 that she had a relationship with August Alsina, a singer who was 25 at the time. This occurred in 2015 when she and Will secretly split.

At Jada and Will's 2020 Red Table Talk appearance together, she reflected on how her relationship with Alsina had begun four and a half years ago: "[I] started a friendship with August, and we became really, really good friends, and it all started with him just needing some help, me wanting to help his health and mental state."

Adding to their conversation, she told Will, "You and I were going through a very difficult time ... We broke up ... As time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August."

Will laughed at the term "entanglement," and so Jada clarified it by saying, "It was a relationship, absolutely."

She described her relationship with Alsina as a personal one. And though she was unhappy with the circumstances, she emphasized that they were in love.

After Jada's relationship with Alsina ended, she and Will got back together.

Because it happened so long ago, the two were able to laugh about it and share their stories of overcoming challenges together.

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Jada Pinkett Smith, Will smith
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