"I think we were both stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be."
Jada Pinkett Smith just made a shocking revelation about her relationship with Oscar-winning actor Will Smith.
In a new interview with Today's Hoda Kotb pegged to her upcoming memoir, Worthy, the Matrix and Girls Trip actress said she and her husband separated in 2016 and "live separately" from each other, despite putting on a public image that they have been a unified couple since they married in 1997.
"Why it fractured? That's a lot of things, and I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying," Pinkett Smith said during the interview. "I think we were both stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be."
Kotb pressed Pinkett Smith on why she kept the separation a secret, and the actress admitted that it came down to the pair "not being ready yet" and "still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership" with each other in terms of how they presented to the public. "We hadn't figured that out," she said.
At one point, Pinkett Smith said she considered a legal divorce but couldn't go through with it. "I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever," she said. "I just haven't been able to break that promise."
Representatives for Will Smith, who was not present during Pinkett Smith's interview, did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
News of the couple's separation adds another layer of complexity to the headline-making moments from their time together, including when Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Oscars after he made a joke about Pinkett Smith's shaved head, the result of her alopecia.
Pinkett Smith also made a shocking revelation in 2020, claiming on her Red Table Talk show that she and recording artist August Alsina had an "entanglement" — long before she revealed that she'd separated from Smith.
Pinkett Smith and Smith have two children together, actor Jaden Smith and musician Willow Smith.