Jada Pinkett Smith has explained why she has no plans to divorce Will Smith, comparing the idea of ending their marriage to quitting.
“Getting a divorce from Will Smith is like you telling me I should quit,” Pinkett Smith said in a clip from her 2023 appearance on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast that recirculated widely on social media this weekend. “I don’t think there’s anyone that can embrace the best and the worst of me and be willing to hold space like ‘Will’ does.”
“Getting a divorce from Will Smith is like you telling me I should quit. I don’t think there’s anyone that can embrace the best and the worst of me and be willing to hold space like ‘Will’ does.
-Jada Pinkett Smith pic.twitter.com/HrVws5Kul4
— Arthur🇳🇬🇬🇧🇸🇳 (@AjMachalaa) March 28, 2026
The couple married in December 1997 and share two children, son Jaden and daughter Willow. Smith also has a son, Trey, from his first marriage. The pair have lived separately since about 2016 but have repeatedly said they remain committed to each other as family.
Pinkett Smith has described their relationship as a deep life partnership that goes beyond traditional romance. In the same 2023 podcast interview, she called Smith her greatest mirror and said seeking someone else would not help her become the person she wants to be.
She made a similar point in a September 2023 interview with NBC’s Hoda Kotb while promoting her memoir “Worthy.”
“I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,” she told Kotb. “We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”
In 2018, Pinkett Smith told reporters the couple’s bond is unbreakable.
“Here’s the thing about Will and I — we are family,” she said. “That’s never going down.”
The Smiths have faced years of public scrutiny over their marriage, including Pinkett Smith’s 2020 admission on her “Red Table Talk” show of an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina during a period of separation. Will Smith addressed the situation publicly at the time, and the couple has continued to appear together at family events and red-carpet occasions in recent years.
Pinkett Smith, 54, has said she values the independence of their current living arrangement while maintaining the long-term commitment they made more than 28 years ago. Smith, 57, has echoed that the marriage is not conventional but remains important to both.
No legal divorce proceedings have ever been filed, and neither has indicated any change in that stance.
