Jada Pinkett Smith says separated from Will Smith six years before infamous Oscar slap

Actor Jada Pinkett Smith has been separated from her husband Will Smith since 2016 - six years before the infamous "Oscars Slap" - she revealed in an interview that aired Wednesday.

The Hollywood power couple's marriage came under intense spotlight at last year's Academy Awards, when Smith struck comedian Chris Rock on stage for making a joke about his wife. But the pair had already been living "totally separate lives" for years before the notorious incident, Pinkett Smith told NBC News.

"By the time we got to 2016 we were just exhausted with trying," she said, in an advance clip from an interview to promote her new memoir, Worthy.

Rumours of affairs and an open marriage were repeatedly denied by the couple for many years. But in 2020, Pinkett Smith openly discussed an extramarital "entanglement" she had with singer August Alsina some years earlier, during a period of separation from her husband.

According to Wednesday's snippet, that separation has endured up until the present day, although the pair remain legally married. Asked why the couple had chosen to conceal their separation, Pinkett Smith said they were "just not... ready yet" and  "still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership."

"We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us," Pinkett Smith told People magazine, in a separate interview.

Pinkett Smith also discussed the Oscars ceremony of March 2022, in an excerpt from her memoir published Wednesday. Rock was presenting on stage when he made a crack about Pinkett Smith's closely cropped head. She has alopecia. Smith mounted the stage and slapped the comedian hard across the face, before returning to his seat and yelling obscenities at the presenter.

In the excerpt, Pinkett Smith recalls that she initially thought the slap was a "skit," and even once she realized it wasn't, remained "unclear on the reason why Will is so upset." "We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife," she writes. 

Pinkett Smith told People that Rock had once asked her out when he thought she and Smith had separated. "I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce, and this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce," she told the magazine.

"So he called me and basically he was like, 'I’d love to take you out,'" she said, adding that she had put him straight that there was no divorce in the offing. "He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that," she said.

Smith and Pinkett Smith first met on the set of his sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1994. Smith was married at the time to his first wife, whom he later divorced. The couple have two children together, Jaden and Willow.

The aftermath

Last year, Smith announced he was resigning from the Motion Picture Academy following his Oscars night slap. He added that he would accept any further punishment the organisation imposed. "I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable,'' Smith said in the statement issued by a spokesperson around that time.

"I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work,'' the statement said. The resignation comes two days after the film academy initiated disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations of their standards of conduct.

The academy's president, David Rubin, said Smith's resignation has been accepted but the disciplinary proceedings will continue to go ahead as planned. The statement added, "I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film.''

Backstory

On the fateful night of Hollywood's biggest awards, Smith strode from his front-row seat onto the stage and slapped Rock across the face for making a joke at the expense of Pinkett Smith.  Less than an hour after the incident, Smith went on to win the Best Actor award for his role in King Richard.

Rock, who was about to present Oscar for best documentary, declined to file charges when asked by police. A day later, Smith apologized to the comedian in an Instagram post saying he was "out of line." Later, the film academy revealed that it had asked the actor to leave the Oscars after the incident but Smith refused to do so.

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