7 Dysfunctional Details About How Will Smith And Jada Pinkett-Smith Started Dating & Their Marriage Now
The couple have been together for over 25 years.
Tinseltown / Shutterstock Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been slowly establishing themselves as one of the most headline-grabbing couples in Hollywood thanks to their many bizarre confessions about their relationship.
The couple are regarded as one of Hollywood’s most charismatic couples, especially after being together for over 25 years.
Will and Jada had first met in 1994 while Jada was still 19 and auditioned to play Will’s girlfriend on the hit show ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’
At the time of their friendship, Will was married to Sheree Zampino, and the two share a son, Trey Smith.
More recently, though, Jada and Will have been making headlines, giving people an insight into a marriage that everyone thought was absolutely perfect — remember the entanglement situation.
Since then, it seems the details of Jada and Will’s long-time romance have only gotten weirder and weirder.
Here are 7 strange details about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage.
1. Will fell in love with Jada while married to someone else.
In an episode of ‘Red Table Talk’ Will shared details about falling in love with Jada while still married to his first wife, Sheree Zampino.
Will remembered first seeing Jada when she auditioned for a role on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and feeling instant chemistry.
RELATED: Will Smith Reveals Photo Of Him In The 'Worst Shape Of My Life' And People Are Praising Him
The night after their first conversation with Jada, Will recalled having to “get up from dinner when I had a realization that I wasn’t with the person I was supposed to be with… I was sitting in a stall and I was crying and laughing uncontrollably, and I knew [Jada] was the woman I was supposed to be with, but I was never getting divorced… I went back out, sat down with Sheree and started going back on with my life.”
In his memoir, Will revealed that five days after getting divorce papers from Zampino, he called Jada and asked her to move in with him.
Despite the two starting to date before Will was divorced from his wife, Jada insists that they did not have an affair while Will was married.
2. Jada doesn’t care if Will has a crush on other women.
During a 2015 interview with Howard Stern, Jada revealed that her and Will talk freely about any crushes they have on fellow people in the industry.
RELATED: Willow Smith Says 'I Have Less Sex Than My Friends' As A Polyamorous Bisexual
“I'm not the kind of woman that believes that a man is not gonna be attracted to other women. I'm just not that girl. It's just not realistic,” Jada said.
“Just because your man is attracted to another woman does not mean he doesn't love you.”
3. Both Jada and Will have cheated on each other — we think.
The couple have both stated that their relationship hasn't always been monogamous.
Of course we know about Jada's affair with rapper August Alsina which later developed into a relationship while Will and Jada were on a break.
After this scandal blew up Will stated that Jada wasn't the "only one" who had relationships outside of their marriage.
But what the couple have managed to keep somewhat discreet is whether these relationships were part of an agreement or if they were unfaithful to one another. We may never know.
4. They have an open marriage — but they don't recommend it.
After the release of his self-titled memoir, Will Smith went on a press tour, where he seemed to only talk about his marriage to Jada.
In an interview with GQ, the 53-year-old actor confirmed that both him and Jada have engaged in sexual relationships outside of their marriage, per a mutual agreement.
Now an open relationship is by no means dysfunctional, in fact many live healthy lives while practicing ethical non-monogamy.
What is odd is that Will doesn't seem all that satisfied with the choice they've made.
“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way,” Smith said.
“Marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody, I don’t suggest this road for anybody," he says.
5. Will and Jada were investigated by Child Protective Services.
In 2014, the couple had been investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services after a photo surfaced of then 13-year-old Willow Smith laying in bed with 20-year-old Moises Arias.
The Smiths were eventually cleared after an anonymous tip to DCFS was placed concerning “the welfare and safety of Willow, based on the contents of the photo.”
"Here's the deal," Jada told TMZ. "There was nothing sexual about that picture or that situation. You guys are projecting your trash onto it. You're acting like covert pedophiles and that's not cool."
Both Will and Jada felt that the picture was a form of artistic expression and was only innocent fun.
6. Divorce is not an option for them.
“Till death do us part,” Will said to MTV News back in 2006. “So there are two possible outcomes. One, we are going to be together 'til death, or two, I am dead.”
It seems that in all the years of Jada and Will’s marriage, and their many ups and downs, the couple have never and will never consider a divorce.
In a clip from ‘Red Table Talk’ Will and Jada joked about opting to stay together throughout their years of marriage.
"You know why I never got divorced?" Will asked her, to which Jada jokingly replied: "It’s cheaper to keep me."
7. Jada and Will don’t label themselves as 'married.'
In an interview with People magazine, Jada explained why she and Will refer to themselves as “life partners” instead of being “married.”
“I needed a different form to dissolve all the expectations that I had of a marriage,” Jada revealed. “I needed to do that to see Will outside of husband and see him as a human being.”
In his memoir, "Will," the actor opened up about how Jada never believed in conventional marriage.
“Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship. So she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up. There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple?”
The fact that they refer to themselves as “life partners" might also intertwine with their desire to have an open marriage as well.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.