Jada Pinkett Smith said she doesn’t fit in to the conventional “wife” role when it comes to marriage with Will Smith and called it the “golden cage.”
“I knew that I was not built for conventional marriage,” the 47-year-old actress shared during a recent interview with The Guardian, in a piece published Sunday. “Even the word ‘wife’: it’s a golden cage, swallow the key. Even before I was married, I was like, ‘That’ll kill me.'” (RELATED: Check Out The Hottest Looks From The 60th Grammy Awards [SLIDESHOW])
View this post on Instagram
“And it damn near did,” she added. “So why wouldn’t you share what you’ve been through, when you see that other people are out there, trying to figure this crap out? We decided to make it public because it’s part of the healing. I feel like if we don’t have [a] real understanding about it, I don’t know if interpersonal relationships are possible.” (RELATED: Jada Pinkett-Smith Opens Up About Her Past Relationship With Porn)
Despite all that, she explained that she can’t see spending her life with anyone other than the “Men In Black” star.
“Will is my life partner and I could not ask for a better one,” Jada shared. “I adore him, I never want people to think it was Will I didn’t want to marry — he and I were talking about this the other day.”
“But I can assure you that some of the most powerful women in the world feel caged and tied, because of the sacrifices they have to make to be in that position,” she added. “So I wanted to talk about how we really feel about marriage. How do we really feel about different, unconventional relationships? How do we really feel about raising children? Honestly.”
It comes following reports that the actress credited her Facebook show “Red Table Talk” with improving both her relationship and marriage to Will.
“What was really important about Will [Smith] and I doing that show together — two things — first of all was to kind of get rid of the idea that people in the public eye have perfect relationships,” the “Girls Trip” star shared during a recent appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“We were kind of sick of living up to that,” she added, referencing the two-part show she did last year with her superstar husband, where they got real about how their marriage hit rock bottom. “We were real sick of it.”
Smith continued, “And then second of all really having myself and Will come and talk about our relationship — sometimes you see just women do it alone or you just see a guy do it.”
As previously reported, the “Red Table Talk” host has been very open on her show about everything from marital issues to a past porn addiction.
The celebrity couple have been married for the more than two decades after tying the knot in 1997. They have two kids together.
