Jada Pinkett Smith addresses open-marriage rumor

Jada Pinkett Smith has responded to the rumor that she has an open relationship with hubby Will Smith, dubbing it “the most persistent” rumor that has dogged them during their 16-year marriage.

Asked flat-out, “Is it true?” in a sit-down with Marc Lamont Hill on HuffPost Live, Jada replied, “I think, no, I think people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another and I think because, from how I’ve answered questions” about how she deals with other women when it comes to being married to a superstar.

Note that the word “no” actually appears in that quote, though it was hardly the highlight of the sentence. Mrs. Smith went on to explain how it works for them.

“I’ve always told Will, you can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be OK,” she said, emphatically. “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 said that people need to go into a marriage knowing it’s a “life partnership.”

The mother of Jaden and Willow Smith — who fought off rumors of a marital separation back in the summer of 2011 — also said the father of her children is her best friend.

“He’s been by my side through some of the most difficult parts of my life. And so that’s something you can never take away. A lot of other things, you never know, other things might change ... but one thing is for sure: I love him deeply and he is my best friend.

“So then you always have that as your foundation and there’s nothing that can change that. Nothing.”

It’s not the first time she’s discussed the rumors.

“I’ve heard all the things — their marriage is not real, he’s gay, she’s gay, they swing,” Jada said on an Atlanta radio show in 2009. “But at the end of the day, people have to believe what they have to believe. I’ll tell you what, it’s too hard to be in a pretend marriage. Life’s too short for that one.”

Jada’s currently promoting “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners,” a documentary she exec produced along with Will about political activist and 1960s radical Angela Davis. The film, which first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, opens Friday in the U.S.

ALSO:

Will Smith-Jada Pinkett Smith separation report denied

Will and Jada make a public display of Team Smith solidarity

Jada Pinkett Smith: Rumors she and Will Smith split ‘ridiculous’

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