Jada Pinkett Smith Says She and Will Smith Are "Staying Together Forever" Despite 2016 Separation

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith's relationship has been thrust into the spotlight amid the release of Jada's memoir Worthy.

The Red Table Talk host revealed a few weeks ago during an interview with Hoda Kotb that she and the Men in Black actor had been essentially separated for several years despite remaining married.

"I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying," Jada said at the time. "I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be."

However, Jada later revealed that she and Will were working on their relationship and on greater acceptance of each other.

"We are in a place now that we are in a deep healing space," she said. "And we are really concentrating on healing the relationship between us. We are working very hard at bringing our relationship together back to a life partnership."

Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show this week, Jada elaborated on her journey towards acceptance and love.

"I think one of those next stages in relationships is when you really learn how to accept yourself fully, you really learn how to accept your partner fully as well. That's been a journey all in itself," she explained.

"And you learn how to accept everyone else—even when you're dealing with their shadow. You just learn to embrace the light of people as well as the shadow. So, I love Will as who he is. I've learned to love and embrace Chris [Rock] as who is—and myself as well."

(This was a reference to the fallout from Will slapping Rock at the Oscars in 2022 over a joke about Jada's hair.)

"I feel like your and his shadow separated in a way in this book, whether they stay together forever or not," Barrymore commented.

"We're staying together," Jada answered. "I tried. We tried," she added, presumably meaning to stay separated. Love to see her journey unfold!