Although some may view Jada Pinkett Smith and her husband, Will Smith‘s relationship and marriage as complex or complicated, the “Girls Trip” star says she’d approve if their daughter had a relationship like theirs.
Pinkett Smith and the “Bad Boys” actor have two children together, 23-year-old daughter Willow and 25-year-old son Jaden. Smith also shares Trey, 31, with his ex-wife Sheree Zampino. Smith married Jada in 1997, but the couple recently separated for several years though neither filed for divorce.
During her Feb. 29 appearance on the podcast “PRETTYSMART,” Pinkett Smith said people held her and Smith to a standard of being a picture-perfect couple or as rapper J. Cole said it on “No Role Modelz,” “I want a real love, dark-skinned and Aunt Viv love / That Jada and that Will love.”
The host, Danielle Robay, then shared that she once dated a guy in college who had a photo of Will and Jada on their vision board as a “symbol of love.” Pinkett Smith said what most people don’t understand is that she and Smith had to learn to love each other in a “real way.”
“When you can go through all the s–t that we’ve went through and still figure it out. … When you can have somebody in your life that’s willing to love you through the heartache. Through the shadow through the rain,” she explained. “Through whatever the f–k ever.”
Both actors dated outside the marriage during the separation, and Pinkett Smith was dragged by fans online for having an “entanglement” with 31-year-old singer August Alsina during the separation and for bringing her husband on her talk show “Red Table Talk” to discuss the affair.
The 52-year-old actress believes that having someone who loves you despite not having a perfect relationship is valuable.
“As much as Will and I have tried to get away from each other, it’s not happening,” said Pinkett Smith. “And what we realized is that … it is that intimate relationship that makes you have to face yourself in ways that no other relationship does. It forces you to learn to love in ways you don’t want to.”
The “Worthy” author added that it was an “excruciating” process but she leaned on the beauty of having someone always by her side.
“But that’s one of the beauties of marriage and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to ever be the thing you thought,” she continued. “That fairy tale that I was killing myself for, my relationship will never be that, but to know that I have somebody by my side that no matter what is dedicated to learning how to love and learning how to love me and vice versa, I don’t know what else you can ask for.”
The “Matrix” star was asked by the host if she’d want her daughter to have the same type of relationship as she has with her husband, and Pinkett Smith replied, “If it’s going to help her become the woman I’m becoming, yes.”
Fans weighed in, and the reactions were rough. One fan joked, “We rebuke that in the name of Jesus.” Another added, “Don’t listen to this advice Willow.” A third fan replied, “She don’t even want the relationship her and will have, so why wou….never mind.”
In reference to her repeated confessions during her book tour last year about her and Will’s relationship, one person said, “Now Jada … we are not gonna start this s–t with you this year…..”
Despite the couple still being married, Pinkett Smith has her own home after moving out of their Calabasas mansion and noted the benefits of living separately.
“I bought myself a ‘woman cave’. Every woman needs a woman cave,” she said. “The best thing is I don’t need to say to Will, ‘Are you OK with this couch?'”
To those who say their relationship is not what they thought, Pinkett Smith said, “You’re right. We’re not.”
