ATLANTA — In a TODAY Show exclusive report, Jada Pinkett Smith tells Hoda Kotb she and Will Smith have been separated for seven years, living "completely separate lives" since 2016.
The report comes ahead of an NBC News special that will air on Friday night, in which Pinkett Smith will detail her personal life and share from her upcoming memoir "Worthy."
According to TODAY, Pinkett Smith describes an effective "divorce" though she and Will Smith are still legally married.
The report highlights an exchange between Kotb and Pinkett Smith:
- Kotb: "It was not a divorce on paper."
- Pinkett Smith: "Right."
- Kotb: "...but it was a divorce."
- Pinkett Smith: "Divorce."
According to TODAY, Pinkett Smith will explain in the NBC News special that she and Will Smith have not previously revealed this about their relationship because it was about "just not being ready yet... Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership ... In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn't figured that out."
The revelation comes roughly a year-and-a-half after Will Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars as he joked about about Pinkett-Smith's hair-loss disorder. The episode put a spotlight on the couple's relationship, which had faced previous allusions to distance between them.
"Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together,” Pinkett Smith said on an episode of "Red Table Talk" following the incident. “This is a season for healing and I’m here for it."
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