Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California.
Photo: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
- Will Smith has responded to his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s memoir.
- The memoir, Worthy, was published on 4 October.
- Jada previously revealed that she and Will have been separated since 2016.
- For more entertainment stories, visit the News24 Life Arts and Entertainment homepage.
Will Smith has responded to his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s memoir in a letter to the New York Times.
Jada’s memoir, Worthy, was published on 4 October and explores her personal struggles, her marriage to Will Smith, her bond with Tupac Shakur and other aspects of her life.
Will told the publication that Jada’s memoir woke him up.
He wrote: “When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life, a sort of emotional blindness sets in, and you can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties.”
The 55-year-old also realised that Jada was more clever, resilient and compassionate than he understood.
In a letter to Jay Shetty, read on his podcast, Will also said to Jada, “I applaud and honour you”, after reading the memoir.
“If I had read this book 30 years ago, I definitely would have hugged you more. I’ll start now. Welcome to the author’s club. I love you endlessly. Now go get some Merlot and take a rest,” Will wrote in the letter read by Shetty to Jada.
“It is amazing to realise that despite having lived most of my life by your side, I still found myself shocked and stunned and caught off guard, laughing, then inspired, then heartbroken. I was all over the place,” Will added.
He continued:
“It’s one thing to hear anecdotes at a family barbecue, but it was truly overwhelming to take in your story, potently condensed in this way.”
Jada revealed in her memoir that she and Will have been separated since 2016. A Hoda Kotb interview confirmed that the two had been living “completely separate lives”.
However, despite the separation, the pair had kept up the appearance of a married couple.
READ MORE | Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith separated since 2016
Jada stated in an interview on Monday that after Will slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022, the moment re-affirmed her commitment to her husband, according to Variety.
“When I was sitting at the Oscars, it clicked in. As soon as I was like, ‘Oh snap, you hit Chris? I was like, I’m riding with you. I didn’t come into this place as your wife, but I’m leaving here as your wife because we got a storm we’re going to have to deal with together. I am not gonna leave your side.”
She also reflected on her separation from Will: “In 2016, we both were exhausted — pulling at each other, power struggles — and I had to go and really learn how to love myself before I could even identify what love looked like coming from somebody else.”
“I had to really learn that about Will…I wasn’t entitled to him,” she added.
