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Will Smith says marriage for him and Jada Pinkett ‘can’t be a prison’

The world has always been fascinated with their relationship


Jovita Trujillo
Jovita Trujillo - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 9:23 PM EDT

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage has always fascinated the world. While the couple kept the inner workings of their relationship to themselves in the past, they’ve become of the most transparent families in the industry with Jada’s show Red Table Talk. Last summer it became public that Jada, 50, was in what she later described an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina, 29 and the “scandal” broke the internet with many assuming Jada was the only one engaging in other sexual relationships, which Will told GQ for their November cover story- was not the case. Will has been working on a new memoir where the world will read details about his life and his marriage with Jada. He told the outlet that while he doesn’t suggest his and Jada‘s road “for anybody,” the “experiences and freedom“ they’ve given one another is the “highest definition of love.”

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After news broke about Jada and Alsina, she was quickly turned into the villain with memes of Will looking extremely sad spreading like wildfire. “The public has a narrative that is impenetrable,” Smith said. “Once the public decides something, it’s difficult to impossible to dislodge the pictures and ideas and perceptions.” The couple had an intimate 12-minute discussion at the red table and carried on with their life as a family.

According to Will, Jada made several compromises that “painfully negated her own values.” The first, being a traditional wedding ceremony, “This would be the first of many compromises Jada would make over the years that painfully negated her own values.” “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,” Will explained.

As noted by GQ, at some point Jada and Will‘s relationship stopped being monogamous. “There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple? And for the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection,” Smith told the outlet.

While Will doesn’t recommend their “road” for everyone, he said marriage “can’t be a prison” for them, “We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And 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.” “But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love,” the 50-year-old actor said.