When Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith got married, they didn’t see the need to sign a prenuptial agreement.
“Listen, weddings are beautiful, but they can be very romanticized,” Pinkett Smith, 52, told Parade in an interview published on Friday, October 13. “I feel that was a very real moment for the two of us to look each other in the eyes, recognize that there would be tough times in this journey and to say to each other, ‘No matter what, we’re going to figure it out and that’s why we don’t need a prenup, because I’m making a promise that divorce won’t be necessary, that we will figure this out.’”
She continued: “We made that promise to each other without all of the bridal wedding beauty; it was just sitting on a log in his mother’s backyard, and going, ‘Hey.’ Having to really look at the possibility of us not being together.”
Pinkett Smith and the Oscar winner, 55, began dating in 1995 shortly after Smith’s split from ex-wife Sheree Zampino. Two years later, Pinkett Smith and Smith — who shares son Trey, 30, with Zampino, 55 — tied the knot in 1997. The couple went on to welcome son Jaden, 25, and daughter Willow, 22.
After two decades of marriage, Pinkett Smith and Smith privately separated.
“I think, by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” she said during a Wednesday, October 11, appearance on the Today show. “I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
Pinkett Smith further told host Hoda Kotb that the pair currently live apart but have not filed for divorce. “I think just not being ready yet,” she added. “Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership, right, and in regards to how do we present that to people, you know? And we hadn’t figured that out.”
Despite their separation, Pinkett Smith and Smith continued to make public appearances as a couple. They even stepped out at the 2022 Oscars, where — before taking home the trophy for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in King Richard — Smith infamously smacked Chris Rock for joking about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. (The actress suffers from alopecia.)
After the slap made headlines, Smith apologized for his actions and withdrew from the Academy before the organization — in turn — banned him from future events for 10 years. According to Pinkett Smith, the ordeal brought the duo closer.
“Look, everybody wants to ride in the limo, right? Everybody wants to be down when everything’s lovely. What happens when things aren’t so lovely? What happens when people who love you need you, and when you need people that you love?” she told Parade. “And so that was a moment that I feel like we recognized once again, ‘Oh, snap, we are just made for this journey together.’ And I was like, ‘No matter what, I am here with you. I don’t care what is going on.’ And I think that is the moment for both of us when we looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, we’re really what we got.’”
Pinkett Smith further gushed that she is “very lucky” that there is someone in her life who is “willing” to stand by her side during “tough times.”
