Jada Pinkett Smith is sharing new insight into her relationship with late rapper Tupac Shakur.
During a Thursday, October 12, interview with RollingOut, Pinkett Smith, 52, was asked about Tupac, who died at age 25 in 1996, thinking of her as a “soulmate.” The actress replied that it’s “absolutely” possible to have a soulmate connection that is platonic.
“If there is such a thing as past lives, I definitely think that Pac and I have traveled a few together,” she said after noting that “there’s all kinds of definitions of soulmates.”
Despite the duo’s strong bond, Pinkett Smith said she has no regrets that she never took her relationship with Tupac to the next level.
“It just wasn’t possible. There was no chemistry between us,” she explained, laughing. The Red Table Talk alum insisted that their connection was simply “friendship-love chemistry” and said there was “a repelling nature” that prevented them from being more than pals.
“It was like God made us that way,” she continued. “It was like [God said], ‘Look, I’m going to put y’all together, right? Y’all are going to be a dynamic duo. But I’m going to tell you right now, I’m going to make it so y’all are not going to be able to get together.’ Because that just wasn’t the purpose.”
Pinkett Smith also noted that she wrote about her and Tupac’s dynamic in her memoir, Worthy, which hits shelves on Tuesday, October 17.
The candid comments about her past come days after Pinkett Smith dropped a bombshell about her current dynamic with husband Will Smith. In a Wednesday, October 11, preview from her upcoming interview with Today’s Hoda Kotb, Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Smith, 55, have been separated for several years. (The full interview airs on NBC Friday, October 13, at 8 p.m. ET.)
“I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” she said in the teaser.
In another preview for the sit-down, Pinkett Smith recalled being surprised when Smith used the word “wife” to describe her after he slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars in March 2022. (Smith famously yelled “keep my wife’s name out your f-king mouth” after striking Rock, 58, for making a joke about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.)
“First of all, I’m really shocked, because mind you, I’m not there [in our relationship],” Pinkett Smith recalled of the moment. “We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time. … I’m really worried for Will, because I don’t know what’s going on.”
Pinkett Smith and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum tied the knot in 1997 and share son Jaden, 25, and daughter Willow, 22. As for why she and Smith haven’t filed for divorce despite living separately, Pinkett Smith told Kotb, 59, that she hasn’t felt ready.
“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,” she said.
