Jada Pinkett Smith confirms she and Will Smith separated in 2016; addresses Chris Rock Oscar slap: ‘He apologised to me’

The controversy arose when Chris Rock made a remark about Jada’s appearance during the Oscar ceremony, seemingly unaware of her medical condition. This led to Will Smith taking to the stage and slapping the comedian across the face.

During the same interview, when Jada was asked if she was offended by Chris’ joke, she said, “I mean, that’s what comedians do. I would just have to say that I am not really here to make any judgment on how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I’ll say that several times I’ve had my feelings hurt, for sure. I’ve had my feelings hurt a lot by Chris. But at the end of the day, too, being in the spotlight, it comes with the territory.”

Jada also disclosed that Chris approached her after the ceremony and offered an apology for his remark. She recounted, “Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me. He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old shit.'”

Following the incident, Will Smith announced his resignation from the film academy. It’s worth noting that it was during the same Oscar ceremony that Smith received the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the film King Richard. Jada has also revealed that she and Will were separated privately at the time and have been so for the last seven years.

Jada confirmed that she and Will “live separately” and explained why they have not announced it. “I think just not being ready yet. Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership, right, and in regards to how do we present that to people, you know? And we hadn’t figured that out,” she said.

She told NBC, “I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

Talking about why divorce is not on the cards, she explained, “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”