Inside Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Unconventional Love Story, From Soulmates to Separation and Back Again

Just when folks thought they had Will and Jada Pinkett Smith‘s relationship figured out, another twist has everyone talking again! New reports suggest that the pair have moved back in together, and it’s reigniting public fascination with one of Hollywood’s most unorthodox marriages.

If we’re keeping it all the way real, though, the Smiths have spent years proving that their relationship can’t be defined by traditional labels or expectations. But how did they go from being on what seemed to be the brink of divorce to now being back under the same roof? Let’s take a look back at some of the key moments that transformed their romantic journey.

From Humble Beginnings to Hollywood It Couple

Long before they were one of Hollywood’s biggest power couples, Will met Jada for the very first time when she auditioned for a role on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” in 1994. Although she didn’t land the part, the pair eventually began dating after Will’s first marriage to ex- Sheree Zampino ended the following year.

Will and Jada went on to date for the next year and a half before tying the knot in 1997. Thanks to Will’s back-to-back box office successes and Jada’s notable film roles, the two quickly became one of Black Hollywood’s most admired couples. Less than a year after the two wed, they welcomed their first baby boy together, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. Two years later, their daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith was born, making them a family of five (Will had a previous son, Trey Smith, with Zampino back in 1992).

Related: A Look Inside Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s $2 Million LA Home, Now Up for Sale

Marriage By Their Own Rules

From the beginning, the Smiths made it clear that they never wanted their marriage to be like everyone else’s. Whether that showed up in how they raised their kids or the freedom they gave each other in their marriage, Will and Jada were in a unique relationship.

This became even clearer in 2013, when she suggested that she and Will were in an open marriage— an arrangement Black celebrities rarely discuss publicly.

“I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay,’” she said in an interview with Huffpost Live at the time. “Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be, and that’s not for me to do for him. Or vice versa.”

She later added: “Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship…this means we have a GROWN one.”

Cheating Allegations, A Secret Separation & An “Entanglement”

While the couple touted the mature nature of their relationship, it still wasn’t enough to keep folks from giving them the side eye based on how they were moving. This was especially true later in 2013, when Will had to fend off allegations of cheating with his “Focus” co-star Margot Robbie. By 2015-2016, it was revealed that Will and Jada had quietly separated but remained legally married.

However, legally married or not, Jada found herself involved in an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina while she and Will were separated. What’s interesting to note here, though, is that at the time, Jada didn’t view the entanglement (read: relationship) with Alsina as a transgression in their marriage. But Will did.

Later, in an admission that shocked the general public, the couple shared that the situation made them realize they’d always have each other’s backs no matter what.

“We ride together, we die together, bad marriage for life!” the two joked in an episode of “Red Table Talk” using a Bad Boys reference.

Tell-All Books That Told All Their Business, But Proved Diehard Dedication

As if the public needed any more fodder for gossip about the couple, they got it, thanks to the release of Will’s eponymous memoir in 2021 and Jada’s memoir “Worthy,” which was released in 2023. Between the pages of those books, we all learned that the couple was separated but still dedicated to being married to each other, regardless of how it looked to others on the outside.

Specifically, Will wrote that he and Jada were “suffering the brutal death of our romantic fantasies, the burning away of the idealistic illusion of the perfect marriage and the perfect family. Neither of us wanted a divorce; we knew we loved each other, and some aspects of our union were magical. But the structure of the life that we had established was strangling both of us.”

The Oscars Slap…of Love?

Now you know we couldn’t talk about the defining moments in Will and Jada’s love journey without mentioning “the slap heard around the world” that took place at the 2022 Oscars.  As we all know by now, the slap went down after host Chris Rock made a joke about Jada’s bald head. Which, given her alopecia diagnosis —that some say Rock wasn’t aware of—and the couple’s rocky history with Rock, the joke likely ticked Will off.

Although Will apologized, it was the way he tried to contextualize the moment as a move made in his wife’s honor that left us all once again confused about how to define their dynamic. People were even more puzzled when Jada revealed that it took this moment for her to realize how much she loved her husband and that she would “never leave him.”

Reunited and It Feels So Good, We Hope!

Over the last two years, it seems that whatever the hell Will and Jada have been doing has been working. The duo has been spotted together at more events, despite their years-long separation.

Whether it was at Smith’s “Bad Boys for Life” premiere in 2024 or more recently at Jaden’s Christian Louboutin menswear show during Paris Fashion Week, it’s become abundantly clear now that despite their unconventional ways of love and marriage, Will and Jada aren’t going anywhere. And now that their separation is officially over and they’ve been reportedly living under the same roof again for the last two years, we think it’s safe to assume that they have a handle on their lives and their love, regardless of how weird it may look on the outside.

“They are happy and love each other and are, as ever, committed to supporting each other,” a close source told PEOPLE earlier this week. Well, hey, cheers to the happy couple!