Jada Pinkett Smith says ‘holy slap’ saved her marriage with Will Smith
Some marriages need therapy to be saved, others need divine intervention. Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith got their celestial intercession thanks to the “Men In Black” actor’s Oscars night slap of presenter Chris Rock.
Pinkett Smith recently revealed that the infamous slap strengthened the couple’s teetering relationship.
“That moment of the s— hitting the fan is when you see where you really are,” she told the Daily Mail’s You Magazine. “After all those years trying to figure out if I would leave Will’s side, it took that slap for me to see I will never leave him. Who knows where our relationship would be if that hadn’t happened?”
The “Girls Trip” actor also mentioned that she almost didn’t attend the 94th Academy Awards in 2022, but added she was glad she did.
Will Smith’s rep says it’s ‘unequivocally false’ that the actor had sex with actor Duane Martin. The fallout from a YouTuber’s sit-down with a former friend of Smith is wild.
“I call it the ‘holy slap’ now because so many positive things came after it,” she said.
While the event may have had a positive effect on the duo’s marriage, the moment led to public scrutiny and Smith having to repeatedly apologize. It also led to his resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a ban from attending the Oscars ceremony — and all other academy events — for the next 10 years.
Pinkett Smith told “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb that she was surprised that the “Bad Boys” star referred to her as his wife on Oscars night when he told Chris Rock to “keep my wife’s name out your f— mouth.”
“First of all, I’m really shocked ... we haven’t called each other ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in a long time. What is going on right now?” she said in the October interview.
Jada Pinket Smith said she was not expecting Will Smith to call her his ‘wife’ the night he slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. ‘What is going on right now?’ she said.
Pinkett Smith also revealed in that interview that she and Smith have been living separate lives since 2016, though they had not officially gone through the divorce process.
The “Hawthorne” actor also revealed that the “holy slap” helped the couple with another moment. The one when she admitted to having a romantic relationship with singer August Alsina in 2020.
In the You Magazine interview, Pinkett Smith took accountability for some of the public scrutiny that has plagued the couple after that revelation.
“At the time of my entanglement, Will and I were not together but he just wasn’t ready for our split to be revealed,” she said. “The reason I addressed it was that the ‘entanglee’ had spoken about it and I wanted to confront that. It was my mess, and I took the bullet for it.”
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
