SALT LAKE CITY — Jada Pinkett Smith said there were troubles worse than infidelity in her marriage to Will Smith that the couple had to work through, CNN reports.
Smith opened up about her marriage in a new episode of the “Red Table Talk” show on Facebook. Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, talked with couples therapist Esther Perel about marriage.
Pinkett Smith explained there were hardships in her marriage to Will Smith that were not related to infidelity. She said she and Will Smith had to reassess their relationship.
- "I'm asked a lot about, 'Is there infidelity in your relationship with Will?'" Pinkett Smith said. "And it's like, 'No, but there have been other betrayals of the heart that have been far bigger than I could even think in regards to an infidelity situation.'"
- "Specifically for me, in regards to redefining my marriage as a life partnership was the necessity of autonomy for myself and for Will, and finding the core of us that wanted to be together outside of the constraints of the traditional ideas of marriage because they weren't working for us."
Pinkett Smith explained that her marriage was based on Will Smith’s dream, according to Fox News. She started to pursue her own career and independence, but Will Smith felt abandoned by her. The couple then decided to rework that aspect of their relationship and build a new path together.
Flashback: On May 31, Pinkett Smith talked on the show about how to face fear and love in a marriage, according to my reporting for the Deseret News. She said love and fear work together in marriage.
“Even in my pain, I’ve had to learn to be more open, more honest, more vulnerable. Not go to the space of ego and lay it down,” she said. “Will and I had a conversation recently that love and fear are fraternal twins. Any time you’re trying to love on a deep level, you’ll come up against the vicious face of fear.”