Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith
Sarah Biren
Sarah Biren
April 11, 2022 ·  5 min read

Jada Pinkett Smith ‘never’ wanted to marry Will, cried at ‘horrible’ wedding

In a 2018 clip, Jada Pinkett Smith admitted she “really didn’t want to get married” to her husband Will Smith. The famous couple made headlines after Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars for making a joke about his wife’s hair. This led to the Academy banning Smith from the award show for the next decade, and a lot of scrutiny into the Jada and Will’s marriage. Which is how a video from 2018 resurfaced where Pinkett Smith confessed to “crying down the freaking aisle” at their wedding in 1997.

Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She Doesn’t Believe in Marriage

This clip is from Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk” Facebook series, in a candid episode with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, also known as “Gammy,” Smith, and their daughter, Willow. “I was under so much pressure, you know, being a young actress, being young, and I was just, like, pregnant and I just didn’t know what to do,” said 50-year-old Pinkett Smith. “I never wanted to be married.”

In this episode, Pinkett Smith recalled how her mother forced her and Smith to get married after she became pregnant with their son, Jaden, who’s now 23. “I really didn’t wanna get married,” Pinkett Smith restated. Chuckling, Smith told Willow, “We only got married because Gammy was crying.”

It was almost as if Gammy was like, ‘You have to get married, so let’s talk about the wedding,’” said Pinkett Smith. This prompted Banfield-Norris to say in the interview, “I remember feeling very strongly and wanting you guys to be married. “I do remember [wanting you and Will to get married] but I don’t remember your rejection of the idea of marriage. I remember the rejection of the idea of a wedding but not of a marriage.”

Pinkett Smith went on recollecting how she gave in. “And now Gammy done gone to Will, crying about ‘I don’t want a wedding,’ and now I’m being forced to have a wedding,” she said. “I just wanted it to be the two of us on a mountain because I was like: ‘This is serious business.’” She explained that she was under a lot of pressure. Her mother apologized for not respecting her will at that time. [1]

Read: Petition To Stop Interviewing Will and Jada Smith Gets Over 23,000 Signatures

A Marriage With Ups and Downs

Then they discussed how “horrible” the wedding day was, with Jada being three months pregnant. Banfield-Jones said, “The wedding was horrible. It was a mess, Jada was sick, and she was very unpleasant. When she was sick she didn’t cooperate.”

Will Smith was excited, however. Ever since he was a child, he dreamed of marriage and raising a family. Meanwhile, Jada did not feel the same way. “I was so upset that I had to have a wedding…” Jada said. “I went crying down the freakin’ aisle. I cried the whole way.”

When this episode aired, the couple had celebrated over twenty years of marriage. During it, Smith asked Jada what part of marriage she opposed. She responded, “I just never really agreed with the construct. I just don’t agree with it. I never have, I still don’t. Till death do us part is real for me. It’s just all of the rules and ideas.” After, she confirmed it’s the things you “can’t do” as a wife that she dislikes.

The couple has gone through many struggles throughout the years. Further resurfaced footage includes an Instagram Live from 2019 where Jada Pinkett Smith asks him to comment about therapist and author Esther Peel but instead he asks her not to film him without permission. “My social media presence is my bread and butter,” he said. “So you can’t just use me for social media. Don’t just start rolling; I’m standing in my house. Don’t start rolling.” [2]

Jada’s Extramarital Entanglement

In 2020, Pinkett Smith released an episode of “Red Table Talk” where she confesses to having an “entanglement” with 29-year-old R&B August Alsina. This occurred while the couple was taking a break and Smith later revealed he also “sought affection outside their marriage” as they had formed an open marriage.

The rapper claimed he had the affair with Jada with Smith’s blessing, a claim Jada pushed against. “The only person that can give permission in that particular circumstance is myself,” Pinkett Smith said. “I could actually see how he would perceive it as permission because we were separated amicably and I think he also wanted to make it clear that he’s also not a home-wrecker. Which he’s not.” She added she had not spoken to Alsina for years. [3]

Despite this event, the couple maintains there was no infidelity in their relationship because of their open communication and unconditional love for each other. Despite their differing views, they seem determined to make their relationship work. 

The highest definition of love”

In an interview in 2021 promoting his memoir, Will Smith explained that Jada didn’t believe in a conventional marriage. “Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship. So she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up,” he said. “There were significant endless discussions about what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple? And for a large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection.

We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can’t be a prison,” he continued. “And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.” [4]

Keep Reading: Jada Pinkett Smith Embraces Hair Loss: ‘I‘m Going to Put Some Rhinestones in There and Make Me a Little Crown’

Sources

  1. “Jada Pinkett Smith recalls crying on her and Will Smith’s wedding day because she ‘never wanted to be married’”. Insider. Olivia Singh. October 23, 2018
  2. Will Smith Pleads With Jada to Stop Discussing Marriage in Old IG Live Clip.News Week. Ryan Smith. March 7, 2022
  3. “Jada and Will Smith reveal marriage trouble on Facebook show.ABC News. Lyn Elber. July 11, 2020
  4. “Will Smith Says ‘There’s Never Been Infidelity’ in Marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith.” People. Benjamin VanHoose. March 14, 2022