Gotham star Jada Pinkett Smith has acknowledged that she had a relationship with another man during a secret separation from husband Will Smith.
Jada appeared on her Red Table Talk show alongside Will to address claims by singer August Alsina that they had a relationship with Will's "blessing".
Will said he had decided to do the Red Table Talk with Jada because they had "specifically never said anything" but now they "felt like it got to the point where you gotta say something".
Will then asked Jada to tell the story of what happened between her and August. "I guess about four and a half years ago I started a friendship with August," she explained.
"We actually became really, really good friends and it all started with him just needing some help, me wanting to help his health, his mental state."
Jada said August was "really sick" when she and her husband first met him, with Will adding: "The outpouring for him from our family was initially about his health."
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The actress and singer then revealed she and Will had been "going through a very difficult time," to which Will replied: "I was done with you."
Will continued: "We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time and you go figure out how to make yourself happy and I'll go figure out how to make myself happy. I really felt like we could be over."
Jada then went on to describe how her relationship with August turned romantic. "From there as time went on I got into a different kind of entanglement with August," she said.
"One thing I want to clean up one of the things that was swirling in the press is about you giving 'permission', which the only person that can give permission in that circumstance is myself.
"But what August was probably trying to communicate because I could actually see how he could perceive it as permission because we were separated amicably, and I think he also wanted to make it clear he's not a homewrecker which he's not."
Clarifying what she meant by "entanglement," Jada added: "It was a relationship absolutely. I was in a lot of pain and I was very broken."
Related: Will Smith's new movie is heading straight to Apple TV+
She added that she and Will at that time "did everything we could to get away from each other only to realise that wasn't possible".
Jada then said her relationship with August ended as she started to realise truths about herself and Will.
"As I came through and started to realise certain things about you and I, he decided to break all communication with me which was totally understandable," she said.
Jada went on to say that she hadn't talked to August in years and had found it "a little weird that all this stuff is coming out now".
Reflecting on the journey of her relationship with Will, Jada added: "One of the things I'm deeply grateful for with this process for you and I is we have really gotten to that new place of unconditional love."
Will and Jada have been married since December 1997 and are parents to son Jaden, 22, and daughter Willow, 19.
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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
You can read more of her work on her Substack page.
