Jada Pinkett says she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016

Talk show host and actress Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed she and actor-husband Will Smith have been separated and have lived "completely separate lives" since 2016.

The actors got married in a quiet ceremony in Baltimore, Maryland in the US on New Year's Eve in 1997. They are parents to son Jaden (24) and daughter Willow (21). Will also has a 29-year-old son named Trey from his first marriage with ex-wife and actor Sheree Zampino.

In a clip from her upcoming prime-time special with Hoda Kotb for the American TV programme Today, Jada confirmed leading "completely separate lives" since 2016, a revelation that she makes in her upcoming memoir "Worthy".

The Red Table Talk host shared that she and Will are still legally married but no longer romantically together.

"It was not a divorce on paper," Hoda said, to which Jada (52) replied: "Right".

"...but it was a divorce," the interviewer pressed. "Divorce," emphasised Jada, who is on a campaign to promote "Worthy".

From rumours of theirs being an open marriage, Jada's "entanglement" with singer August Alsina to Will (55) slapping Oscars host Chris Rock after he joked about his wife's hair at the 2022 Academy Awards, the couple's longtime relationship has often been in the headlines.

When asked why the couple hadn't previously shared their relationship status, Jada said it was all about "just not being ready yet".

"Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership... In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn't figured that out," she added.

By 2016, both Will and Jada were "exhausted with trying", she said.

"I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be," she said, adding while she has considered a legal divorce, she has never been able to go through with it.

Will also published a memoir in 2021 which touched upon their marriage.