Jada Pinkett Smith breaks down in tears over ‘painful’ time and struggles in interview after revealing split from Will
JADA Pinkett Smith has battled with her emotions as she opened up on difficult topics.
The movie and TV star was overcome with emotion as she dove into a discussion about her family and mental health.
Early in October, Jada, 52, revealed that she had been separated from her husband Will Smith, 55, for seven years.
The celebrity also shared many previously-private details about her life in her book, Worthy.
On Instagram, Jada shared a post promoting her appearance on Jay Shetty’s podcast, and hinted that they’d have a “powerful conversation.”
In the YouTube podcast, Jada teared up multiple times as she touched on intimate topics and difficult memories.
The actress revealed that she’d suffered from bad mental health, and spoke about how she overcame her lowest moments.
Jada said: “You don’t want to burden anybody, and you’re like, ‘Look, if I can’t figure out how to get out of this, nobody else is going to be able to figure this out either.’
“That was a really, really… that was a painful time.”
The star apologized as she paused to cry, before struggling to carry on with the heart-wrenching conversation.
She concluded: “I’m really grateful that I found a way out… and I wish there was one thing I can say, one piece of advice.
“You know, what would you tell someone in a situation like that? And all I can ever say is please just keep going. Keep trying, keep walking, trust.”
Jada affirmed: “If you keep trusting, the universe will open a door.”
SPILLING SECRETS
Jada revealed in her memoir, Worthy, that she and Will decided to “live completely separate lives” in 2016.
She opened up about the status of their relationship during an appearance on the Today show on October 11.
Hoda Kotb clarified: “It was not a divorce on paper, but it was a divorce,” to which Jada nodded.
“So since 2016, which is seven years now, y’all have been apart?” Hoda asked.
“Yeah,” Jada confirmed.
Jada shared that they weren’t ready to share the news publicly before this point, and had been figuring out “how to be in a partnership,”
“In regards to ‘how do we present that to people?’ We hadn’t figured that out,” the mother of two shared.
TRYING TIMES
Jada has been married to Will since 1997 and admitted in a frank Red Table Talk session in 2020 that she’d had an affair with the musician August Alsina.
While Jada and Will initially denied the cheating rumors, the actress later revealed that she had a romantic relationship with August when she and Will secretly separated in 2016.
In 2021, Will spoke to Oprah Winfrey about finding spiritual enlightenment in his marriage after taking the drug ayahuasca more than 12 times.
He told Oprah: “It’s about being able to find that contentment within yourself — not with external stimuli.”
He continued: “The spiritual process is detoxing all of those things — not leaving your marriage so you can go get some chocolate cake. No. It’s no chocolate cake. It’s not alcohol. It’s no sexual stimulation and all of that… The spiritual process is more about detox than going to get more.”