Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are one of Black Hollywood’s most beloved couples. But like most marriages, theirs has been through its fair share of tests. During a new episode of Red Table Talk, the Smiths sat down for a candid conversation to address the swirling rumors that Jada and singer August Alsina were once in a relationship and Will gave them his blessing.
Alsina made his brief romance with the actress public during a sit-down interview with Angela Yee last week. Delivering on her promise to address things on her own platform, Jada sat down with Will and answered the world’s burning question.
“I felt like it was really important to come to the table and clear the air,” Jada says as the episode begins. “Four and a half years ago… I started a friendship with August and we actually became really, really good friends,” she continued. “And it all started with him just needing some help, me wanting to help his health, his mental state.”
Will and Jada both say that August was “really sick” when they first met him through their son Jaden. “The outpouring for him from our family was initially about his health,” she continued. “We found all those different resources to help pull him through and from there you and I were going through a very difficult time.”
Smith bluntly responds, “I was done with you.”
“We broke up,” Jada added. “We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time.”
Jada then explains that while separated from Will, her friendship with Alsina turned romantic. “From there as time went on I got into a different kind of entanglement with August. One thing I want to clean up [is about] you giving ‘permission’,” Jada says to Will. “The only person that can give permission in that circumstance is myself. But what August was probably trying to communicate, because I could see how he could see it as permission because we were separated amicably, and I think he wanted to make it clear he’s not a homewrecker because he’s not.'”
Jada says Alsina ceased all communication with her once she and Will began the process of reconciling. She says she doesn’t look at her relationship with him as a “transgression” but rather a journey of self-discovery.
“I was in a lot of pain and I was very broken. In the process, I definitely realized that you can’t find happiness outside of yourself.”
When Will inquires what Jada was looking for in that relationship, she admits, “I just wanted to feel good. It had been so long since I felt good. And it was really a joy to just help heal somebody. I think that has a lot to do with my codependency which is another thing I had to learn to break in the cycle…being drawn to people that need help. There’s something about that childhood trauma that feels it can be fixed through fixing people versus fixing me.”
Jada said she’s ultimately grateful that she and Will are in a place of “unconditional love.”
Watch the full RTT episode above.