Will Smith shared some intimate details about his marriage to Jada Pinkett-Smith in a new Oprah interview, revealing if he and his partner of over 25 years are open in their relationship.
Will Smith, 53, got candid with Oprah Winfrey, 67, on Friday, answering some hard-hitting questions about his long-running, unconventional marriage to Jada Pinkett-Smith, 50. Fans have had questions for a while since Jada admitted to a sexual relationship with August Alsina, 29, last year, and Will also revealed he had been unfaithful before. Oprah took Will to task on Nov. 5 for her AppleTV+ The Oprah Conversation series, interviewing the movie star as he promoted his new memoir, Will.
“We realized that it was a fantasy illusion that we could make each other happy,” Will said of his marriage to Jada — a union that began when they wed in 1997. “We agreed that she had to make herself happy and I had to make myself happy. Then we were going to present ourselves back to the relationship already happy — versus demanding that the other person fill our empty cup.”
The Aladdin star admitted it was more “contentious” for him as he and Jada pursued this new, non-traditional journey toward happiness. “[I said] ‘Go figure out if you can be happy and prove to me it’s even possible.’ I’m gonna do me and you do you.”
In his book, Will wrote about the “the power of loving in freedom,” acknowledging that he and his wife are “both imperfect people” who are trying to “figure out how to be in this world joyfully.” Oprah then pressed the Men in Black star to explain what “loving freedom” meant and whether it pointed to him and Jada being in an open relationship.
“You love in freedom with everybody except your partner,” Will stated, explaining how people tend to give more space in friendships or parent-children relationships versus a restrictive marriage. With him and Jada, he said it’s “friendship versus marital prison,” which caused Oprah to ask if he meant they could have other sexual partners. “So we talk about everything,” he shared. “I think the difficulty that people have and difficulty in discussing it is people only think in terms of sex.”
He added, “People are trying to put something on it: ‘Will and Jada — what they doing with other people?’ Will and Jada ain’t really doing too much of nothin,’” he laughed, mocking the speculation. “Will and Jada are on a spiritual journey to cleanse the poisonous, unloving parts of our hearts. And we’re doing it together in this lifetime no matter what.”
‘Gemini Man’ film premiere, Los Angeles, 2019. (Matt Baron/Shutterstock)
Will also revealed that one night, after drinking ayahuasca and questioning, “Do I have to be married? What is it?” he had a vision of Jada as soil and himself as a seed. He saw the hand of God putting them together and a beautiful tree growing out of it. That vision made the Suicide Squad actor start thinking of his partnership with Jada as a “fruitful interaction that is meant to feed the people around us. Whether I liked our interaction or not, I started feeling in my heart we were special together. We were condoned by the universe.”
He added, “I haven’t talked about that publicly.”