It's been more than 20 years since Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith first fell in love and got married, and boy, has it been a roller-coaster. Their relationship dates all the way back to 1994, when The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air first brought this celebrity couple together, and the rest is history. They've had to overcome a lot of obstacles together (along with the births of their children, Willow and Jaden) and somehow, they've managed to come out strong on the other side of it all, despite what people might think about their marriage.
Recently, Women's Health put together a relationship timeline of Will and Jada's love story, and it's pretty wild to see everything they've been through and have overcome. From Will ending his first marriage to Jada's "entanglement" — and everything in between — these two have proven that there's nothing in this world that can break them apart.
Read on to find out exactly how Will and Jada became the strong couple they are today, from their first meeting to their wedding day in 1997 and to where they are in 2020.
1994: The First Meeting
If not for Will's starring role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the '90s, he and Jada may never have met! Unfortunately, it was just an audition, since Jada didn't end up getting cast as Will's girlfriend, but that audition was all they needed to get things started (even though he was married to Sheree Zampino at the time).
"I auditioned for Fresh Prince, and they told me I was too short… to play Will's girlfriend… only for me to become his wife," Jada told Extra.
1995: Will Realized Jada Was 'The One'
Despite their connection, Will's marriage to Sheree continued … but in 1995, he realized Jada was the one he actually wanted to be with, as he explained on Red Table Talk in 2018.
"I was sitting in a stall and I was crying and laughing uncontrollably, and I knew [Jada] was the woman I was supposed to be with, but I was never getting divorced … I went back out, sat down with Sheree and started going back on with my life," he said at the time.
1995: They Take Their Relationship Public
Even though Will said he didn't think he'd ever get divorced, it was later that same year that he actually ended up doing just that. And interestingly, Sheree — who is the mother of Will's oldest son, Trey — and Jada are on good terms today. She even appeared on Red Table Talk!
1997: The Engagement
Will and Jada's relationship was going so well that after two years of officially dating, they decided to get married. He popped the question in November, and of course, Jada said yes. At the time, little did they know that their life was about to ramp up in a big way for the rest of 1997.
Jada Finds Out She's Pregnant
Almost immediately after their engagement, Will and Jada got a big surprise: They found out that Jada was pregnant with their first child. Jada has been open about the fact that this really threw her for a loop.
“I was under so much pressure being a young actress — being young, pregnant, I was just like, I didn’t know what to do," she said on Red Table Talk in 2018, reports People.
A New Year's Eve Wedding
A month after their engagement was official, Will and Jada got married on New Year's Eve 1997, with Jada later sharing this Polaroid on Twitter years later of the two of them kissing as they rang in 1998 together — a year that would, obviously, end up being pretty major for them both.
July 1998: Jaden Was Born
Welcome to the world, Jaden! On July 8, 1998, Jaden Smith was born, and at the time, his parents couldn't have known that he'd end up following in his dad's footsteps and also becoming an actor. These days, Jaden has continued to pursue his career in entertainment, also releasing music.
October 2000: Willow Was Born
On October 31, 2000, Jada and Will welcomed their daughter, Willow, into the world. As we all know now, she'd go on to record the phenomenon that is "Whip My Hair," and she's still releasing music even now, with a little modeling on the side (including walking in one of Rihanna's Fenty runway shows in 2020). On top of all that, she also hosts Red Table Talk with her mom and grandma.
2013: The First Controversy
During an appearance on HuffPost Live in April 2013, Jada led people to believe that she and Will had an open marriage. But after her words ended up getting misconstrued, she took to Facebook to explain herself, writing:
"Here is how I will change my statement…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."
2016: The Separation
Though they didn't make it public at the time, years later, Will and Jada shared that they had been separated for a time in 2016.
"We essentially had to destroy our marriage. She was like, 'I can’t do this anymore,' and to me… it was over, but divorce was never even an option," Will said on Red Table Talk in 2018. "We broke up within our marriage and got back together again. We had to rebuild with new rules and something way, completely different."
Jada's Entanglement With August Alsina
As Jada revealed in 2020, it was during this separation that she ended up having an affair with August Alsina. Dubbing it an "entanglement" on Red Table Talk, she and Will ended up hashing it out for the world to see on her Facebook Watch show.
"Through that particular journey, I've learned so much about myself and was able to really confront a lot of emotional immaturity, emotional insecurity and I was really able to do some really deep healing," she said.
2018: Will & Jada Are Going Strong
On a 2018 episode of Rap Radar, Will talked about his marriage to Jada — and of course, this is before anyone found out about their separation and Jada's entanglement. His comments at the time would later end up being even more illuminating after finding out what they'd been going through just two years earlier.
"We don’t even say we’re married anymore," Will said. "We refer to ourselves as 'life partners,' where you get into that space where you realize you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life. There’s no deal breakers. There’s nothing she could do — ever — nothing that would break our relationship. She has my support 'til death, and it feels so good to get to that space."
July 2020: Jada Comes Clean
On an episode of Red Table Talk, both Will and Jada came to the table to have a frank discussion about their marriage, Jada's affair, and everything in between. This was the first time that they publicly confirmed that she had been in a relationship with someone else during their marriage, and it ended up stirring up a lot of emotions.
August Speaks Out
After Jada's Red Table Talk confession, August responded to her claims in an interview with People, sharing that her admission had a big effect on his professional life.
"I could understand why it would look like I'm reckless or disrespectful so it really started to affect my livelihood, and I'm never OK with that," he said at the time. "I got three kids to look after. Kill me, hate me, stone me, but bury me an honest man. All I can do is tell the truth."
Will & Jada Today
After getting everything out in the open, it seems like Will and Jada are doing well these days. They remain a tight-knit family with Willow, Jaden, and Trey, and as far as we can tell, they're happy. They've overcome a lot in more than two decades of marriage, but it seems like this couple truly is here to stay.
