Last week, we got a sneak peek of the new season of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk. In the teaser featuring an in-depth conversation with Will Smith, he recalled a time when Jada “cried for 45 days straight,” admitting that he felt he had “failed miserably” as a husband. Now we know why.
In the new episode debuted on Monday and featured Jada, Will and Jada’s daughter, Willow, and Jada’s Mom, Adrienne Banfield-Norris. In the first of a two-episode special called “Becoming Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, Will stated “We have created a marital and family paradigm that has been speculated about for a lot of years” and that he hoped to clear the air.
Will knew he was meant to be with Jada; ended up marrying someone else
The episode kicked off with the couple’s somewhat unconventional beginnings. Will recalled seeing Jada, who was working on A Different World, and asking his Fresh Prince co-star Alfonso Ribeiro to introduce them via a friend. Will said “I have a thing, I recognize when I see a person if our relationship can be exponential.” He saw it with Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso and he saw it with Jada.
The night Will went to a Different World taping, he fell for the girl with Alfonso’s friend, who turned out to be Will’s first wife (and previous Red Table Talk guest), Sheree Fletcher. Sounds like a bad rom-com, doesn’t it?
Will and Jada insist they didn’t cheat
Will did end up meeting Jada and realized he missed out on that “exponential” relationship, recalling a night when he found himself crying in a men’s room stall at a restaurant, realizing, “I knew that was the woman I was supposed to be with, but I was never getting divorced.” Sheree eventually asked for a divorce and Jada made it clear that there was no hanky panky before Will’s divorce was finalized. Jada and Will dated and Jada got pregnant. Jada recalled that she “knew the moment after the act that I was pregnant” and then “cried all night long” knowing that “my life is never going to be the same.”
Jada didn’t want to get married
Jada had no intentions of ever getting married and felt pressured by her mother to do so. Their wedding, which took place when Jada was three months pregnant, was “horrible” and the photos they shared from their big day prove that. While Will had known since he was five-years-old that he was destined to be married and have a family, Jada admitted she didn’t like the “construct” of marriage, adding, “The acceptable definition of wife, and the paradigm, I’m not that.”
Jada was unhappy living up to expectations
Years went by, and Will became addicted to winning and let it get the better of their relationship. He said he had a picture in his head of a perfect family and pointed out that Jada was “sacrificing herself to make my picture.” He admitted that “I felt that money and winning made a good relationship,” building a house for Jada that he eventually recognized was really for himself. This is the reason for Jada’s crying binge, as she was unhappy because, “I’d been trying to live up to an expectation for Will.” She went on to say that the turning point for her was when she hit 40, admitting, “I was like, ‘I can’t do this like this anymore.” And… scene. The story continues on next week’s episode.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I “get” this relationship. Will seemed honest, but I don’t understand why they’re still together. He wanted marriage and family, she didn’t, and, as much as she loves her kids, I think she could still take or leave Will. I’m hoping more is revealed next week, because now I’m hooked, dammit.
Photos: Getty, Instagram
I don’t understand either. Why get married in the first place, and then stay all that time? It sounds like they were absolutely miserable.
+1
I remember seeing Jada on a talk show when she first started dating Will. She said she would marry Will in a minute if he would just ask her? I never liked Jada. She is a strange bird
I didn’t follow their relationship closely, but my impression back then was that Jada set her sights on Will as a must-have target. She didn’t seem respectful of Trey’s mother and I remember not caring for her at all. I now think that Jada is socially awkward and doesn’t really understand how poorly she can come across. No proofâjust impressions.
I absolutely loved this and understood exactly where they were coming from. I’m hooked too!
Ari, I get it, too. I love them. People are complicated. Everyone, in their own way, can be labeled “strange.”
I related, not judged. And, even when I don’t relate, I don’t judge.
I like real. And real is messy
I wish my family had this kind of open dialogue. So much would be healthier and understood
Itâs so funny to me when ppl use words âparadigmâ and âexponentialâ to make their trivial experiences sound meaningful. Also a big sign of rich uneducated ppl.
@LANA Say what you will about Will, but âuneducatedâ doesnât really fit him. Dude was offered a full ride to MIT before he was famous.
He has only high school education, so he is uneducated.
…..Lana please, I just woke up. Please reread that sentence you wrote, maybe make some logical, “educated” edits.
@LA, yeah, that’s not exactly true. From Wikipedia: According to Smith, “My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college.”[21]
@Lana – Oh honey, stop. At this point, you’re the one who appears to be uneducated.
Sorry guys, sure , they are very educated ppl… by American standards I guess…
Yep. Most Americans don’t get past high school, so by that metric he is educated.
No one is saying that they’re scholars, it’s just rude and inaccurate to say that someone who finished high school is uneducated. I really don’t understand the snobbery from you and jj. Nice reminder that educated folks can also be ignorant AF!
Errrr….not to kill the trolling with facts and all, but per the World Bank, US rate of tertiary (post-hs) education achievement for people ages 22-64 is 44%, which is line with the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Norway, Luxembourg, Finland, and Australia, and higher than most of Europe. I know our president sucks, but seriously.
@TheHufflepuffLizLemon, errrr…44% is still a minority.
@eto I agree I sound snobbish, but these two really invite snobbery by 2 facts:
-their comic pretentiousness
-the fact that they could afford to study, but chose not to.
@ Lana Not everyone needs to study after high school or continue with higher education – I think everyone should have the opportunity and means to, but it’s really not meant for everyone.
These two do love sharing how enlightened they are but from the posts I’ve seen on Insta (TheShadeRoom, for example) – people seem to like it and I can relate SO MUCH to what she’s talking about in this episode. Different folks, different strokes.
The point, JJ, is that almost no countries have over 50% of their population in the same age range achieving post-HS education. So calling out the US as uneducated is a bit misleading as weâre well above average in the rate that you guys are using as a benchmark.
Lana, using multi-syllabic words or favoring a certain descriptor does not in any way make you rich or uneducated.
Lol.
People are allowed to use whatever words they want. That’s called communication.
Just like you’re allowed to be irrationally triggered by it.
@Lana Other people who are rich but uneducated, had the choice to study but chose not to – the late Princess Diana (left school with no ‘O’Levels at age 16); Richard Branson, Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron high-school drop- outs… do you have comments about them too? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them use these ‘big words’ you speak of. So many eye-rolls. Take a seat.
I’ll be honest, I’m not buying at all their claim that nothing happened until after his divorce was finalized. It would make sense why his ex-wife was so upset with Jada, and honestly it would just make sense for the whole story.
Ex wives are never quite thrilled to see the next contestants, even years after a divorce is done….
While I do agreed with you, I was thrilled to see my ex-husband’s new fiancee – he’s HER problem now and taking him off my hands was a favor.
My only wish is that he’s not abusive to her like he was me, but hopefully she has the resources to get out if that behavior resurfaces. I really do wish her well.
Well…Iâm fascinated…but very very confused. I canât think of another A-list couple thatâs done this. Why? You donât need money. It wonât help your films. I canât help but feel thereâs an element of âweâre so enlightened and next level so letâs instruct the world with all our wisdom!â. Itâs bizarre and narcissistic…but hey, Iâm watching.
you are so funny but that is very true
+1
The only thing I thought was helpful was Will Smith bringing up his childhood of Domestic Violence where his father used to beat up his mother and how it settled in his mind to have the complete opposite marriage. I think it would be much more interesting for Will to do a show with a psychologist to figure out why he rightly did not view that as normal whereas other men with a similar family dynamic end up repeating that behavior in their own marriages.
Also I think wanting a household without any violence may have lead him to not be firm in enforcing rules for his children. You can have a nonviolent household and raise children with boundaries and rules, it just takes more creativity.
This whole family seems to be traumatized in some way. Just read elsewhere that Willow was cutting and depressed. I always felt like my life would be so much better with money, but even money couldn’t “fix” the Smiths.
Yes because money fixes depression.
I’m bipolar I and II, clinically depressed, OCD, ADD, Severe Anxiety disorders
And I tell you what… Having money and not having to worry about paying bills, paying for my kids medication, having a car that works well
I’d sure have a lot less to be depressed about.
I’d have time to relax and work more on being well
They are weird, but I think not in a fun way. Like if they were just-folks and part of my social circle, they would be the couple I’d try to avoid going to dinner with. I feel like it would be really awkward to be around them as a couple in a small setting. I bet they’d be fun at parties, where they could each go off and do other shit.
I dunno. I’m pretty comfortable with the fun kind of weirdness, but awkward-weird… nah. Not even to watch on TV. :/
I find all of this so exhausting and I don’t even watch the show.
What I donât get is why they are airing all this dirty laundry. Dude. Thereâs a reason itâs called family business. Keep that between yourselves and your therapists. I donât know, Iâm baffled that theyâd come out and admit how dysfunctional and incompatible they are. At least it seems that way to me.
Because a lot of people are under the impression that if you are wealthy, you must have a perfect life, or be somehow “better” than the rest of us plebs. The entire celebrity business is predicated on the idealism of wealth. Will and Jada are doing everyone a favour by showing that wealth doesn’t mean you are free from problems. Also, sharing problems helps to light a path for others who may be going through something similar.
I see this as a much needed public service.
It’s a shame everyone sees this as narcissism, which it’s really not. Narcissists try to present a superior face to the world, will and Jada are doing the opposite.
First world problems , Will and Jada. You seem utterly ridiculous and narcissistic for doing this. Itâs embarrassing to watch.
I can’t watch. This program is obviously a vehicle to impart their wealth of imagined knowledge and life experience upon us poor unenlightened souls. It’s like Real Housewives fluff with a measurable IQ.
This is all leading up to a big reveal that they are not still legally married….
They legal contract is void…..But they are life partners, itâs a more meaningful and spiritual construct blah blah blah.
This makes absolutely no sense. She doesn’t want kids, she doesn’t want to be married, be a wife, be a mother. She wept after having sex with Will, knowing she would get pregnant – Why no conversation about family planning, birth control, abortion? She wept over being a wife for two months? Why not get a divorce? I just don’t understand this woman at all. She has no desire to be a wife or mother, and yet she insists on maintaining that role. She sounds f*cking brainwashed, or like she is literally trapped. THIS is why I think they are Scientologists. This is what happened to Katie Holmes, too. It happens to a lot of women, powerful women at that. This family makes me deeply uncomfortable.
I’m looking forward to her interview with Leah Remini about Scientology. That should be so interesting.
I think she is not telling the truth in earlier interviews in her relationship she said she couldn’t wait to marry will and would marry him in a heartbeat.
This is such self-indulgent nonsense. I don’t get it.
I get what she’s saying. She said she would marry him if he’d only ask in the beginning because it’s what’s expected. She understood in her spirit that getting married meant giving up a part of herself that she couldn’t/shouldnt give at that time. She did what most people do: fell in love, got pregnant, got married and stopped working on her OWN self in very short order. You can only ignore your own growth and emotional well being for so long before you’re “crying for 45 days straight”. Also, same.
BABY……………………..THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This fact makes me understand and emphasize…SO MUCH BETTER WITH MY MAMA…cause this 82 year old woman…who has ALWAYS BEEN LARGER THAN LIFE…and SO MUCH TO DEAL WITH…I now see that the reason she is like she is…is because she is living a life…that she did NOT choose….one that was foisted on her because she was escaping an abusive home when she was a teen…and ended up in a marriage with a MUCH OLDER and CONTROLLING man…who on ONE HAND…made sure she didn’t become a teen mother (they married when she was 15 and he was 27…and I STILL don’t know how they managed to NOT get pregnant until she was 20 in THE FIFTIES!)…and during that time period…he would take her out to wonderful clubs and shows and things and show her off like a beautiful doll and basically treated her like a Princess…educated her…which she LOVED and WANTED…THAT is what she signed up for…THAT is what was promised to her…yet once she had my older brother and sister…he locked her in house and showed his ASS!!!!
And by the time I came alone…during her second marriage to a man she REALLY should have just hit and quit…SHE WAS…LIVID!!! Don’t get me wrong…my Mama is a good Mama…and did the best she could…but I OVERSTAND everything Jada was saying…
One of the most shocking things my mother ever told me was how much she wished she had never gotten married. She was married to the same man for 50+ years and had children/grandchildren and lived the “expected” life she thought she had to have. Yet, somehow she was also a intellectual radical who pushed buttons. And she raised her daughters to question everything. I think things have changed a lot in 2 generations as I look at her grandchildren. Look at the difference between Jada’s mother and Willow.
This is 1000% my mother-in-law. She got married at 20 and had a baby (my brother-in-law) and then was left by her husband and divorced against her will. Then she met and married my father-in-law, and I don’t think she really ever loved him; she was looking for a stable marriage and a father for her young son. Then they had a daughter and adopted my husband years later. He told me once that he thinks his mom has been depressed for most of his life, and I know she lashed out when he was growing up. Like @Cay says, life has changed a lot in the interceding generations. She thought she needed to be married to be “okay” even though it was a choice that made her miserable.
This sounds like a movie. A GOOD ONE.
Cay I get that. I’ve often said over the years my mother was a frustrated feminist. If she’d been given a chance outside of the boring suburban box she was locked in by her traditional parents and a society that decided how her life should go she would have changed the world.
The apples haven’t fallen far from the crazy trees they came from!
Please please please don’t tell us about your marriage anymore.
Jada’s mom is beautiful. Sge is aging well. They look like sisters..
I can’t stand Jada. Never have liked her. I also think she is the main reason their two kids are so weird. Very into themselves. They speak like Kanye West does in these sentences that literally make no sense. Even Will has said he regrets the way they were raised at times. She never seems happy either.
This family is exhausting.
Yes! Exhausting. Why on earth are they airing all this personal business at this time? Anything for attention/ratings.
I do agree that many people live as they are “expected to” but ffs, Jada, they kids are grown if you don’t want to be married..divorce and go your own way.
I have zero sympathy for multi-millionaires with these bs problems.
Your wealth gives you options, others can only dream of changing their lives.
And, those kids have a lot of issues. No exactly parents of the decade, IMO.
Jada is a complete narcissist and attention seeking tool.
Why don’t they spend some time and money doing charity work? Oh yeah, nobody points cameras at you for helping others.
To me, and I could be wrong, but she seems like she was the other woman. I think Sheree was his girl. He thought she was hot and that was his wife but Jada got in there and took over. And now they’re sugarcoating everything, especially since they have kids together.