Was The Slap Fake? Jada Pinkett Smith Says She And Will Smith Have Been Separated For 7 Years

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith first met on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when she auditioned for the role of Lisa Wilkes, Smith's on-screen girlfriend. "The first time I met you was at the 'Fresh Prince' when I came to audition. I think I was 19, and they told me I was too short. But you were there," Pinkett Smith said as the I Am Legend star sat across from her.

"Yes," he replied, adding, "I knew there was something in our energy that would be magic." The couple went public for the first time in 1995, and the magic lasted over 20 years. The famous lovebirds tied the knot in December 1997, and they gave birth to their son Jaden Smith one year later. In 2000, the Smiths welcomed their beloved daughter, Willow.

The duo has consistently made headlines in the past decade, most notably for Pinkett Smith's situationship with musician August Alsina. In 2020, the "No Love" singer revealed that he had been romantically involved with Pinkett Smith – an "entanglement," as the Red Table Talk host described it.

On March 27, 2022, the Smiths sent the internet into a frenzy after the Focus actor slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards when Rock jokingly compared Pinkett Smith's bald look to G.I. Jane. Smith walked to the stage as Rock attempted to continue his speech but was interrupted with a big slap. "Leave my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth," Smith said.

The attack came with consequences. Smith had to resign his AMPAS membership and was given a 10-year Academy event ban.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith Have Been Over for 7 Years 

Were the dramatic, tearful conversations about the alleged infidelity and slap all for show? According to Pinkett Smith, she and Smith have been living "completely separate lives" for seven years. On paper, they're still married – but there's no longer romance between them. When asked what caused the "fracture," Pinkett Smith said, "By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

Was the Slap Staged?

Considering how offended Smith was by Rock's "jokes," it makes sense why the social media audience is questioning the reason behind the hit. "So the slap was for nothing," @epiclfy commented.

"So the Will Smith slap was staged?" questions @_itsashleyc_. "I’m going back to bed."

Interestingly, Smith even posted a video of he and his wife from the night of the event before the incident. He captioned it, "Me 'n @jadapinkettsmith got all dressed up to choose chaos."

Yes, Pinkett Smith fooled around with Alsina, overshared the deets about her and Smith's intimacy issues, pushed him to answer a question on Instagram Live, got upset at him whenever he threw a massive party for her 40th birthday, and so on and so forth. Call Smith "spineless" or a lover boy, but at the end of the day, Pinkett Smith is the mother of their children, and they were together for over two decades.

Pinkett Smith recalled the notorious moment between her husband and Rock. "I thought, ‘This is a skit,’” she said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”

She remembered when she and Smith were finally alone after the altercation. “I’m going to be by his side,” Jada told People, “but also allow him to have to figure this out for himself.”

As for the state of their marriage, it remains unclear for now. “We’re still figuring it out,” she adds. “We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other, and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”

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