How Jada Smith is STILL pulling strings in bizarre marriage to Will as they refuse to let $400m empire go ‘up in smoke’

“IT was not a divorce on paper. But it was a divorce.”

That is how Jada Pinkett described her unconventional split from superstar husband Will Smith.

When the actress gave that baffling insight into her marital woes in 2022, the couple had been secretly living apart for six years.

Yet in the last three years – since his movie career went into meltdown after he assaulted host Chris Rock for making a cruel joke about Jada at the Oscars – she has remained the most important woman in his life.

Although Jada, 53, humiliated her husband in 2020 when she admitted that she had an affair with singer August Alsina, Will seems unable to move on. 

He was slammed this week for a raunchy routine with Spanish hitmaker India Martinez, 39, sparking rumours of a romance.

But insiders say “shameless” Will was courting headlines when they shared a steamy kiss on stage at the Premio Lo Nuestro award in Miami – and it’s still Jada who is pulling his strings.

Despite splitting in 2016, Jada was by his side for the Bad Boys: Ride or Die premiere in May 2024 and the couple were seen looking extremely cosy on a dinner date in November.

“Will and Jada aren’t a romantic couple anymore but they continue to be business partners,” a source close to the family told The Sun.

“They continue to regularly communicate about that stuff and of course anything involving their kids or their family friends.

“In that sense they will always be ‘family’ because they built a pretty incredible business together and they both want to see it through.

“Jada also still feels extremely invested in Will’s career and wants him to succeed because it’s good for everybody in the family.

“Will and Jada have got used to this arrangement where they’re not a traditional married couple but still totally have each other’s backs in the boardroom.

“Neither of them wants to see their production company go up in smoke.”

The Smiths, who wed in 1997, have a joint net worth of $400million and share two lucrative production companies which would need to be carved up if they put a formal end to their marriage.

They do not have a pre-nup agreement in place to protect their assets.

But their situation is not that unusual in Hollywood where other famous couples, including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and his ex-wife Dany Garcia, are still in business together.

SLAP BACKLASH

Prior to the infamous Oscars slap, with Will riding high on the success of King Richard, there had been talk of the Smiths selling their production company for $1billion.

Jada’s Red Table Talk show was also a hit at the time, and they had remade Bel-Air as a TV follow-up to the Nineties sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Their children, Jaden, 26, and Willow, 24, had both launched successful showbiz careers – but then the cracks began to show.

Despite winning Best Actor for tennis biopic King Richard, Will’s career went into freefall after his attack on Chris Rock, following the host’s cruel joke about Jada’s alopecia.

The potential sale of their company Westbrook fell through and according to news outlet Semafor, they lost half their staff in 2023.

Although Will recently earned a reported £28million for his big-budget slavery movie Emancipation, it was a box office flop.

He is said to be planning a major comeback – releasing his first album in 20 years, as well as a possible sequel to 2007 hit I Am Legend and a remake of the 1987 Christmas classic Planes, Trains And Automobiles.

But finding funding is not as easy for Will as it was before he was deemed a loose canon in the film industry.

“Before The Slap, putting movies together was the easiest part of Will’s job, and now it’s become the hardest, even when he can bring some real money of his own to the table,” says the insider.

“Will feels he is just one or two movie hits away from being back at the top of the A-list, but there are people in the industry who think he needs to stay in his ‘Bad Boys’ lane for the time being. 

“He’s still an amazingly charismatic actor, no matter how unrelatable his personal life has become.”

Yet despite the swirling backlash which has dogged him for three years, Will remains confident he will soon be back at the top.

“Will isn’t pitying himself, he is still the loudest, biggest, happiest personality in any room,” added our source.

“His over-confidence continues to drive everything he does and it’s been a cushion during the crises of the last three years. 

“He’d have a hard time getting out of bed every morning without it. 

“But that doesn’t mean there aren’t serious problems in his world.

“Will is fighting multiple uphill battles to get his projects set up at major studios and fully financed, including his long-brewing I Am Legend sequel.”

The couple’s unconventional relationship is certainly a roller coaster, but something keeps them coming back for more – they were seen wrapping their arms around each other on their recent dinner date.

And recently Jada said: “We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together.

“We just got a deep love for each other, and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”

‘ADDICTED TO SPOTLIGHT’

In the absence of movie roles, Will sees a return to music as another way of clawing his way back into public affection.

“Will has never lost money on music so he still has that as an important cornerstone of his career,” says the source.

“Will doesn’t care if a song of his only works in Brazil or Korea or Thailand because everything counts and his mega-fame assures that his music gets some kind of airing in every market in the world.”

The recent headlines about his racy performance with India have certainly helped to flag his return to music.

Will and India shared flirty social media posts run up to the release of their hip hop track First Love on Valentine’s Day.

India, 39, commented: “We’re like two children in their first love.”

It was not a divorce on paper. But it was a divorce.

Jada Pinkett Smith

And things heated up an awful lot further when they performed together at the award show in Miami last month.

They embraced and shared a passionate kiss as Will caressed India’s bottom – totally fixated on one another.

Backstage, India was spotted jumping into Will’s arms as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

The display was deemed so wildly inappropriate that many onlookers suggested the star was in the grips of a midlife crisis.

But insider say kissing India was little more than a headline grabbing publicity stunt.

“Will wants audiences to get excited about his music again and that means he has to generate headlines,” explained our source.

“Will is shameless about leaning into anything that gets him attention, and his antics with India certainly did. 

“I don’t see them becoming an actual couple because she has her own career and priorities to worry about, but Will is addicted to the spotlight and he’s still a legend in his own mind. 

“He’ll always opt for doing something extreme to get the message out that he’s still entertaining audiences and trying new things. 

“If people are talking about something he’s doing, that’s success for him.”

Jada, meanwhile, is unruffled by her husband’s behaviour and continues to insist she made a ‘promise’ that she would never give Will a ‘reason’ to get divorced. 

Despite everything this unconventional couple have endured over the years, Jada remains the most steady and reliable person in Will’s life right now.