Jada Pinkett Smith has addressed rumours that she had an affair with another man during her marriage to Will Smith.
The Hollywood couple and their relationship is in the spotlight again after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscar Awards ceremony for a joke about his wife Jada and her alopecia.
The pair appeared on Jada’s Facebook chat show Red Table Talk in July 2020 to address rumours that she was unfaithful to Will with singer-songwriter August Alsina.
The couple, who share 22-year-old son Jaden and 19-year-old daughter Willow, have explained that they took some time to be apart.
“We decided we were going to separate for a period of time and you go figure out how to make yourself happy and I will go figure out how to make myself happy,” Men In Black star Will said.
Confessing that during the separation she had a relationship with August, Jada added, “From there, as time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August.”
Will countered with, "an entanglement? A relationship."
To which Jada replied, "I was in a lot of pain and I was very broken."
The two said they decided to come to the red table to clear up the rumours in the media about their relationship since an interview went live with radio show host Angela Lee and August Alsina, in which he said he gave "years" of his life to a relationship with Jada that had Will's blessing.
Despite the situation, the duo claim they still have “unconditional love” and at the end of the discussion, joked, “We ride together, we die together. Bad marriage for life.”
However, fans of Jada and Will have been taking to social media with all sorts of opinions on the matter, with many still totally confused and others feeling sympathy for Will.
‘Jada cheating on Will is proof that you can give someone everything and it’ll never be enough for the wrong person,’ one penned.
‘The real question is was Will Smith more hurt or embarrassed? Imma go with embarrassed. Only because his open marriage is exposed,’ added another.
‘Listen!! I’m still confused as to what Jada did wrong to anyone? She and will were separated. She had an entanglement with August and it finished. Soooo I’m quite confused,’ chipped in a third.
A fourth pointed out that the couple’s way of dealing with the drama has been admirable, Tweeting, ‘Everyone is joking about the Will and Jada thing but they fought for their marriage. I really like how Jada talked about her pain and healing. She mentioned her childhood trauma played a big part in it. The fact that he understands her pain, trauma, and healing is amazing.’
But where did these rumours come from?
A timeline of Will and Jada's relationship
1994: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett meet on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, when Jada auditioned to play Will's girlfriend in the show. Jada didn't get the part and Will was still married to his first wife, Sheree Zampino so the two went their separate ways.
Later on in 1994: Will and Sheree separate, later divorcing the following year. Will and Jada begin seeing each other romantically. The Men in Black star allegedly called his future wife to ask if she was seeing anybody and when Jada said no, Will replied 'Cool you're seeing me now'. Very smooth, Will.
December 1997: Will and Jada get married on New Year's Eve in Baltimore, following the announcement that the couple was expecting their first child together.
July 1998: Jaden Smith is born.
October 2000: Two years after the birth of their first child, their second child Willow is born. Along with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, Jada normally hosts Red Table Talk with her daughter Willow.
August 2011: Over a decade later, Will and Jada bat off rumours that Jada was dating co-star and Jennifer Lopez' husband at the time, Marc Anthony. In a statement in People magazine, the couple said, 'Although we are reluctant to response to these types of press reports, the rumours circulating about our relationship are completely false. We are still together, and our marriage in intact".
August 2013: Two years later, Jada is once again forced to deny rumours about her marriage. This time, it's about allegations that her and Will have an open relationship - which largely means that they can date other people.
https://www.facebook.com/jada/posts/10151624226366320
In the same year, rumours begin to emerge that Will Smith had an affair with co-star Margot Robbie on the set of Focus, which came out in 2015. Both actors have long since denied the rumours.
But Will appeared to imply that he'd had affair in the past on his Red Table Talk appearance recently, saying that they had both "made mistakes without fear of losing" their family.
June 2015: Jada makes an appearance on American talk show, Howard Stern, to discuss her relationship with her husband. She says, "I’m not the kind of woman that believes that a man’s not gonna be attracted to other women, It’s just not realistic. And just because your man is attracted to another woman doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. And it doesn’t mean he’s gonna act on it.”
July 2015: Both Willow and Jaden are set to perform at Wireless Festival in the UK, so Jada flies over to support. This is where she meets August Alsina for the first time.
August 2015: Just one month later, Jada and Will once again confirm that they're not headed for a break up. Will takes to Facebook and says to his fans, 'I promise you all - if I ever decide to divorce my Queen - I SWEAR I’ll tell you myself!'. Jada follows up with a tweet saying, 'My king has spoken'.
June 2017: August and Jada attend the BET Awards together in June.
July 2018: The following month, Will posts a heart felt Instagram post on the anniversary of the couple's wedding. The caption read, '20 Years Ago Today we held hands and walked naively down that aisle. Here’s what I’ve learned since.
Love is Like Gardening... I have learned to focus on HELPING you to BLOSSOM into what YOU want to be (into what you were born to be)... Rather than Demanding that you become what my Fragile Ego needs you to be.'
July 2018: August Alsina comes to the Red Table with Jada, where she introduces his as a "dear family friend". The two discuss his personal issues around alcohol and drug addiction.
June 2020: While promoting his new album, August sits down with Angela Lee, American radio show The Breakfast Club's host and tells her that he "gave years of his life" to Jada in a relationship that had Will's blessing.
That same day, Jada's reps release a statement calling August's claims "absolutely not true".
July 2020: Jada Pinkett Smith, as we know, brings herself and husband to the Red Table.
