Jada Pinkett Smith has confessed she was in a relationship with singer August Alsina during a rocky time in her marriage to Will Smith.
After announcing last week that she would be “healing” herself during an episode of her Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk, Jada finally disclosed the nature of her relationship with August. Accompanied by her husband, Will, Jada shared that her connection with August began as a friendship and elevated into a romance.
According to People , Jada said the relationship, which she referred to as an “entanglement,” began when she thought she and Will were going to divorce four-and-a-half years ago.
“I started a friendship with August and we actually became really, really good friends,” Jada admitted. “From there as time went on I got into a different kind of entanglement with August. One thing I want to clean up… about you giving ‘permission’ which is… the only person that can give permission in that circumstance is me,” she said, referring to August’s initial statement .
The Set It Off actress also shared that, at the time, August was going through multiple health issues and her entire family was on board with helping him. As the relationship continued, Jada described the romance as more of a “journey” than a “transgression” against her husband.
Both Will and Jada confirmed they had wanted to separate, and August wasn’t used to betray their marriage. However, Jada realized while she was dating August that she saw Will in a different light and wanted to resolve the union.
“He decided to break all communication with me which was totally understandable,” Jada shared. “And I let that be and hadn’t talked to him since so it is a little weird that all this stuff is coming out now since this was several [years ago].”
Ultimately, Jada and Will decided to move on and refocus on their marriage. The couple tied the knot back in 1997 and have two children, Jaden, 22, and Willow, 19. Jada said the couple’s “unconditional love” for one another was why they were able to maintain their bond. Through the years, they’ve considered themselves to be in a life partnership, which August alluded to in his interview with Angela Yee.
During the discussion, Will said he felt it was important for both of them to be honest with their fans. Jada first teased the episode on Thursday, July 2. In a Friday, July 10, tweet promoting the episode, Jada informed her followers that she and Will had the discussion last week, but she felt it wasn’t the time to share it with them.