People confused over Will Smith’s Oscars slap after Jada reveals they’ve been separated for years

The pair were living apart when the infamous Chris Rock slap took place

The 52-year-old said she and Smith have lived "completely separate lives" for seven years, having married in 1997.

Whilst they are still legally married, Pinkett Smith revealed the couple are not romantically together.

Speaking to People ahead of her upcoming memoir's release, Pinkett Smith explained more about her current relationship status.

"We've been doing some really heavy-duty work together," she said. "We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like."

She also revealed that the pair were living apart when her husband slapped Chris Rock at the Oscar's for making a joke about Pinkett Smith.

In an interview with NBC, she explained to Hoda Kotb what led her relationship with Smith to "fracture."

She said: "By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be."

She added that whilst she has never been able to go through with a legal divorce from Smith, saying: “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through ... whatever.

“I just haven’t been able to break that promise."

For years now, the relationship between Jada and Will has made headlines, with the pair both openly talking about their marriage.

But the question on your average Joe's lips is, what on earth was that slap about if they'd been apart for so long beforehand?

Now as I'm sure you can all remember during the 2022 Oscars, Chris Rock made a light hearted joke about Pinkett Smith to which Smith got on stage and smacked the life out of him.

He then so infamously yelled: "Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth."

However now people are questioning why Smith defended his wife so strongly, despite being actually separated for so many years.

One person wrote on X: "Jada Smith says her and Will Smith have been separated since 2016, than why tf did Will Smith say this in Oscars, and slapped Chris Rock?"

A second wrote: "I wouldn't do that for a girlfriend I haven't seen in seven months."

However another argued: ""So he can't defend her because they are separated, she's the mother of his children, he clearly still loves her…. let the man be."

And a fourth wrote: "I don’t get the comments about will slapping Chris Rock. Just because people are separated doesn’t mean they don’t care about each other.

"I can’t stand will smith, so I’m not defending him personally, or the slap which was ridiculous, but, jada was sitting with him that night."

What's your take?

Related links:

Laura Woods confirms relationship with Love Island star

Travis Barker says he ‘kept secretly checking out’ Kim Kardashian before getting with Kourtney Kardashian

Kevin Costner’s ex says she’ll have to get a job after child support is halved to $63k a month