Separated or not, Jada Pinkett Smith still plays a huge role in Will Smith’s life.
The Oscar-winner attended a screening of his upcoming action-comedy, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, where he talked to Entertainment Tonight about whom he considers a “ride or die” in his life. Along with addressing fellow friends and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum DJ Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribiero, Smith also namechecked his wife of 26 years.
“It’s funny, I was just talking about this, I have always been grateful that there has never been a time in my life when I didn’t look to the side and have a ride or die right there,” Smith told ET. “Jada is one of the most gangsta ride-or-die’s I’ve ever had.”
While the duo is still married, they quietly separated in 2016, a revelation that Pinkett Smith shared in her 2023 memoir, Worthy. The news was also publicized in the actresses’ sit-down with Hoda Kotba on Today last year, ahead of the book’s release.
“Why it fractured, that’s a lot of stuffs,” the Set It Off star said around the 2:40 mark of the video below. “I think by the time we got to 2016 we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”
Much has still unknown around The Smiths’ wedding in recent years, including the 2020 bombshell news of R&B singer August Alsina being in a relationship with Pinkett Smith during her marriage. The Smiths would mention the speculation in an epsiode of ex talk show Red Table Talk shortly afterward, although they didn’t share their separation at the time.