Jada Pinkett Smith is set to reveal a shocking ‘secret’ about her marriage to Will Smith in a dramatic new interview with NBC News – with a teaser clip revealing the actress will lift the lid on something that happened in their relationship in 2016 has changed.
The 52-year-old sat down with Today anchor Hoda Kotb for a lengthy interview to promote her new memoir, Worthy, in which she shares details about some of the most difficult and traumatic aspects of her life – including her husband’s now infamous Oscars. meltdown in which he slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage.
In a new preview clip from Jada’s interview with Hoda, 59, the Today anchor is seen asking the mother-of-two about something that happened in her marriage in 2016.
“From the year 2016, which is seven years ago now, you all were…” Hoda asked as she held her hands up to indicate distance.
Jada Pinkett Smith to reveal shocking ‘secret’ about her marriage to Will Smith in dramatic new interview with NBC News
In a new preview clip from Jada’s interview with Hoda Kotb, 59, the Today anchor is seen asking the mother-of-two about something that happened in her marriage in 2016
Will (55) and Jada tied the knot in 1997 and they share two children together, while Will also has a son from a previous relationship.
“Yeah,” Jada replied as she pulled her hands apart and clicked her mouth.
Today anchor Savannah Guthrie hinted that Jada will reveal ‘the secret about her marriage to Will Smith’ for the ‘very first time’.
The interview comes amid Jada’s ongoing publicity tour for her new book, which has seen her open up about a number of difficult topics – including her struggles with ‘depression’ and ‘despair’, which began when she turned 40.
“On paper, it all seemed great — I had the beautiful family, the superstar husband, the lavish lifestyle, fame and fortune,” she writes in the book, according to an excerpt obtained by People.
However, she says that, behind the scenes, ‘I fell into despair and wanted to be on this earth less and less.’
Jada’s marriage to Will came under public scrutiny in 2020 when she interviewed him on her chat show Red Table Talk about an ‘entanglement’ she had with a much younger man four years earlier.
The relationship gained even more notoriety last year when Will slapped Chris at the Oscars for making a naked joke about Jada that visibly offended her.
She will address that infamous slap in her interview with Hoda, with the Today anchor saying of her interview with the actress: ‘I learned some really shocking developments that I was completely unaware of.
‘She sat next to Will during that Oscar bash. She has a perspective. … She actually weighs in and explains what she saw.’
Jada was the product of a turbulent childhood in Baltimore, marked by her mother’s heroin addiction and father’s alcoholism.
Against the backdrop of her tumultuous home life, Jada became a drug dealer when she befriended Tupac Shakur in high school.
“I learned some very shocking developments that I was completely unaware of,” Hoda said of her interview with Jada
Jada laughed when Hoda asked her about the ‘shocking secret’ in her marriage
In her autobiography, she writes that she discovered during adulthood that she suffered from ‘complex trauma with PTSD and dissociation’.
However, in her period of intense distress in the year of her 40th birthday, she had not yet received an official diagnosis and struggled to cope with her trauma.
The excerpt begins with her driving through Ojai, California on her way to a meeting with a mysterious ‘Medicine Woman’ who she hopes will alleviate her problems.
‘Don’t be afraid, I told myself. You are in peaceful, beautiful Ojai. Why are you so scared?’ she wrote. “Because, I reply right back, what if IT actually kills me?”
Then she added: ‘Three months earlier, in the wake of my fortieth birthday, my biggest worry was Well, what if it DON’T?’
Pulling back the veil on her glittering public persona, Jada recalled: ‘For two decades I put on a good face, went with the flow and told everyone I was okay. But underneath, bouts of depression and overwhelming hopelessness simmered until it turned into a raging hellfire inside my broken heart.
‘Unwelcome feelings – of not deserving love – made it harder to understand the disconnect between the so-called perfect life I had achieved and the pit of loss I carried with me. Therapy helped to a point. That brought me to 40! But to what end?’
Her comfort came from her children Jaden (25) and Willow (22), as well as Will’s son Trey (30), by his first wife, Sheree Zampino – but even they were not enough.
“I would later be diagnosed and told I was suffering from complex trauma with PTSD and dissociation, but without this guidepost I was a chronic mess with no resolution, no possibility of healing,” Jada wrote in her book.
‘Waking up every morning was like walking the plank of doom – could I make it to four o’clock? If I could, I would have survived the day.’
She recalls: ‘I always wanted to sleep, but I never slept well. My children could put a smile on my face and were my only motivation to keep me going, but more and more I could feel myself losing my grip on connection with them.’
Her ennui bore down on her despite her ‘checking off boxes meant to define that she was enough to deserve to “have it all,” but it ended up not delivering the gifts that were promised.’
She wrote that she ‘followed the rules… the rules we’re told to follow. You work hard, make sacrifices for those you love. The rules tell you: Be a loving mother and a loving wife, do the work required, and life turns into paradise. NOPE. A loving relationship, harmony, peace… that happiness had yet to be delivered.’
Jada admitted: “On paper,” it all seemed great — I had the beautiful family, the superstar husband, the lavish lifestyle, fame and fortune. I had my own career, the freedom and support to pursue creative outlets. The sweetest part was my kids – Jaden, Willow, and my bonus son, Trey – my three favorite people in the world.’