Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been open about their profound affection for one another.
The couple delivered their son Jaden in 1998 and their daughter Willow in 2000, following their 1997 wedding.
In her forthcoming memoir, “Worthy,” Jada Pinkett Smith discusses the uplifting and agonizing moments of her life, including the fact that she and Will Smith have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016.
In a clip aired Oct. 11 from Pinkett Smith’s upcoming NBC News primetime special with Hoda Kotb — which airs Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC — the actor revealed that while she and Smith are still legally married, they are no longer romantically involved.
“I believe we were both stuck in our fantasies of what we thought the other person should be,” she said of the reason for the dissolution of their marriage.
Pinkett Smith added that while she has considered divorce, she has never been able to pursue it.
“I vowed that there would never be a cause for us to divorce. We will persevere no matter what,” said Pinkett Smith. I have simply been unable to break that vow.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are introduced.
During a 2018 appearance on “Red Table Talk,” Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch series, Smith discussed his marriage to Pinkett Smith and revealed how they met.
While sitting across from her spouse, Pinkett Smith said, “The first time I met you was at the ‘Fresh Prince’ when I came to audition. I believe I was 19 when I was told I was too diminutive. However, you were there.”
“Yes,” replied Smith.
The “I Am Legend” actor then revealed that he was familiar with her from her role as Lena James on the popular television series “A Different World.”
“I knew there was something in our energy that would be magic,” he continued.
Smith stated that he asked his “Fresh Prince” co-star Alfonso Ribeiro to set them up on a date, and Ribeiro replied that he knew someone who could introduce them.
Smith said he then went to a taping of “A Different World” during the first season of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” to meet Pinkett Smith, but he ended up meeting his first wife, Sheree Fletcher Zampino, who is also the mother of his oldest son, Trey, instead.
“I strolled in. Alf exclaimed, “That’s my boy who knows her” as I sat down in the audience and the recording began. And as he sat down, I thought, “Who is that girl he’s with?” Smith reflected. “The guy who was supposed to introduce me to Jada was with another woman, and I was like, ‘Who is that?'” And the individual was Sheree. I went to ‘A Different World’ to meet Jada, met Sheree, married Sheree, and had Trey with Sheree.
Smith stated that he eventually met Pinkett Smith at an event hosted by Tisha Campbell and her ex-husband, Duane Martin, following several “near misses” of meeting her.
“We had that moment and we connected,” he commented. “But I was married. That was the end.”
Pinkett Smith added, “We did not have an affair while he was married. Let’s be clear about that.”
Will Smith and Sheree Fletcher Zampino end their marriage.
In 1995, Smith and his first wife, Sheree Fletcher Zampino, got divorced.
While recalling the moment on “Red Table Talk,” Smith said he had doubts about their marriage leading up to the divorce, but since he didn’t believe in divorce, he still continued on with their relationship.
It wasn’t until Zampino filed for divorce from the “Men in Black” actor on Valentine’s Day that he started to realize their relationship was over.
“She hit me hard,” he declared.
“I thought, ‘Ouch! Ouch! And despite this, I told her, ‘No. You can’t have a divorce and she hit me with the, ‘So you’re going to make somebody stay with you who doesn’t love you?’ And I said, ‘I’m actually not. Nope, I’m not. And that was the one that got me,” he said.
Smith and Pinkett Smith wed in 1997 while Pinkett Smith was “three months pregnant” with their first child, Jaden, according to the couple’s appearance on “Red Table Talk.”
Pinkett Smith stated that she never intended to get married and that her mother “pressured” her to take the plunge.
“I was under so much pressure as a young actress who was also pregnant,” she stated.
“My first trimester was a nightmare. I was so dismayed that I had to get married. I was so angry. I cried my way down the aisle while getting married,” she continued.
After hearing Pinkett Smith’s complaints, her mother apologized for not respecting her daughter’s wishes.
“I apologize for not respecting your intentions. “I’ll never have the experience of my daughter getting married, because you were my only child,” she said, displaying extreme selfishness.
Smith stated that he was excited to stroll down the aisle once more.
He joked while feigning to walk down the aisle with Pinkett Smith, “I was like, ‘Hey!'”
“There wasn’t a day in my life that I wanted anything other than being married and having a family,” according to him.
Smith wrote in his memoir of 2021 that the traditional wedding ceremony was a sacrifice for Jada: “This would be the first of many compromises Jada would make over the years that painfully negated her own values.”
