Jada Pinkett-Smith was surpisingly calm as she dropped the bombshell news that she and her husband Will have been separated for seven years, and even seemed to be surpressing laughter, according to a body language expert.
Speaking to FEMAIL, Judi James suggested that the 52-year-old almost appeared ‘proud’ to make the announcement during her sensational interview on the Today show.
Judi suggested that the drama is Jada’s ‘comfort zone’ thanks to her Red Table Talks show where she’s used to explosive revelations – such as admitting her affair with family friend August Alsina in 2020.
However, her apparent nervous excitement could also be a sign of relief to get the truth about her turbulent relationship out there.
Sitting down with Hoda Kotb, Jada explained why her marriage to Will, 55, broke down, saying: ‘By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.’
Jada Pinkett-Smith smiled for ‘bravado’ as she dropped the bombshell news that she and her husband Will have been separated for seven years, a body language expert has revealed
And Judi said the mother-of-two appeared very animated as she made the revelation while promoting her new autobiography.
‘With a book to plug she is dropping a bath bomb into everything fans know and think about her “perfect” marriage to Will, which could account for the counter-intuitive body language display as she breaks the news during this interview,’ the communication pro explained.
‘Without the words, Jada’s facial expression suggested she was announcing good news, like an engagement or secret wedding, not a split that occurred seven years before.
‘She seemed to be trying to suppress a smile as she “surprised” the host with the scoop.’
Judi said Jada looked to be pursing her lips in a ‘suppression ritual, as though excited to see the news sink in’, with a ‘puckered smile as though she was trying not to laugh’.
‘There was an eye-smile as she tilts her head,’ the expert added. ‘Appearing almost proud as though giving someone a lovely surprise gift.
‘She performed deep nods of affirmation at the host relates the news and there was an explosive laugh as though she was releasing all the suppressed emotion at last.’
Judi also explained that ‘smiling when you deliver or hear bad or sad news can be bravado and it’s quite a common response’.
However, her hand clasp during these moments also ‘suggested some tension’.
Speaking to FEMAIL, Judi James suggested that the 52-year-old actress almost appeared ‘proud’ to break the scoop during her sensational interview on the Today show, as she is in her ‘comfort zone’ thanks to Red Table Talks
Sitting down with Hoda Kotb, Jada explained why her marriage to Will, 55, broke down. Both pictured in 2019
‘[Jada’s] brows raises as their “separate lives” were mentioned, suggesting openness,’ the expert also said.
The star appeared to be pained when questioned on why she decided to hide the truth for so long, because she is normally such a ‘straight talker’.
‘Here she looked upward and there was a micro-wince,’ Judi explained.
‘Her mood changed as she became more dominant and serious, narrowing one eye and speaking with a one-handed gesture or emphasis and precision.’
In the interview Jada – who admitted in 2020 that she’d had an affair with singer August Alsina – said she considered a legal divorce but could never go through with it, candidly revealing that she made a ‘promise’ to her husband that she would never give him a ‘reason’ to get divorced.
‘I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,’ she continued. ‘We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.’
‘But you still live separately?’ Hoda probed, prompting Jada to confirm: ‘We live separately’.
Jada’s nervous excitement could also be signaling a relief to get the truth about her turbulent relationship out there, Judi said
The star appeared to be pained when questioned on why she decided to hide the truth, as she is normally such a ‘straight talker’
Speaking to People, Jada admitted the pair were in fact living separately when her husband slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022, when he strode onto the stage in a burst of fury over a joke that had been made about his wife’s bald hairstyle.
She noted that no permanent decisions have been made about the future of her marriage, explaining that she and Will are ‘still figuring it out’.
‘We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together,’ she said. ‘We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like.’
Jada went on to praise her children – Jaden, 25, Willow, 22, and Trey, 30, who is Will’s son from a previous relationship – for standing by her during this rocky time in her relationship.
‘My children, they’re little gurus. They’ve taught me a deep sense of self-acceptance,’ she said. ‘They love every part of me. The level of love, unconditional love that they have for me and their dad.
‘And it’s one thing to want to be the person that gives that unconditional love. And then there’s to be the recipient of that.’
Will and Jada’s separation will come as a shock to many given they have denied the gossip about their marriage and kept up the appearance of a committed married couple.
At the 94th Academy Awards, Will famously slapped comedian Chris when he joked that Jada looked like ‘G.I. Jane’ because of her bald head when she had recently revealed that was suffering from alopecia.
Clearly enraged by the jab, the Fresh Prince star stormed the stage and proceeded to slap Chris for making the joke.
The shocking assault occurred moments before he took home the Best Actor gong for his portrayal of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams’s devoted father in the film King Richard.
In a rambling acceptance speech, a sobbing Will admitted that ‘love makes you do crazy things’ – but tellingly failed to apologize to Chris for his assault.
In July 2020, Jada admitted she did have an affair with singer August, 31, while married to Will during a bombshell tell-all confessional.
The actress first publicly revealed her affair when she sat down with her estranged husband for an intimate conversation on her Facebook show, Red Table Talk, where she said she developed a friendship with August four years prior, however insisted revealed she and Will were going through a ‘difficult time’ and had ‘basically broken up’.
Will, 55, and Jada (seen at the 2022 Academy Awards) were separated when the actor slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars after he made a joke about the actress’s bald hairstyle
Jada and Will pictured at the Oscars in 2022 with their children Jaden and Willow, as well as Will’s son Trey, 30, by his first wife Sheree Zampino
At the 94th Academy Awards, Will famously slapped comedian Chris when he joked that Jada looked like ‘G.I. Jane’
Jada admitted she did have an affair with singer August Alsina in 2020 during a Red Table Talk. Both pictured in 2017
At the time, Jada famously referred to the years-long affair with R&B singer as an ‘entanglement’ which now features as a reference in August’s track ‘Shake the World’.
The shocking confessional came after both actors initially denied August’s claims that Will gave him his blessing to have a relationship with Jada.
The bombshell Today show interview comes amid Jada’s ongoing publicity tour for her new book, which has seen her opening up about a number of difficult topics – including her battle with ‘depression’ and ‘despair’, which began when she turned 40.
‘On paper,’ it all looked grand – I had the beautiful family, the superstar husband, the lavish lifestyle, fame and fortune,’ she writes in the book, according to an excerpt obtained by People.
However, she says that, behind the scenes, ‘I’d fallen into despair and wanted to be on this earth less and less.’
Jada was the product of a tempestuous childhood in Baltimore, scarred by her mother’s heroin addiction and father’s alcoholism.
Against the backdrop of her turbulent home life, Jada grew to become a drug dealer by the time she befriended Tupac Shakur in high school.
In her autobiography, she writes that she discovered during adulthood that she was suffering from ‘complex trauma with PTSD and dissociation’.
However, during her period of intense distress in the year of her 40th birthday, she had yet to receive an official diagnosis and was left struggling to get to grips with her trauma.