With the release of her memoir “Worthy,” Jada Pinkett Smith continues to challenge our conceptions of love, commitment and ethical non-monogamy, revealing in the book’s pages that she and husband Will Smith, 55, have been separated since 2016.
The pair, who have been married for nearly three decades, met on the set of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” when Jada auditioned to be Will’s girlfriend.
Jada didn’t land the role — but cast herself as the most pivotal person in Will’s life, a part she continues to play amid the many trials, tribulations and incarnations of their marriage.
The couple, who wed in 1997, share son Jaden, 25, and daughter Willow, 22. Jada, 52, is also a stepmother to Will’s son Trey, 30, whom he shares with ex-wife and “Real Housewives” alum Sheree Zampino, 55.
The revelations in Jada’s memoir provide the latest round of bombshells in a union that has long been the subject of speculation and discourse.
Rumors of divorce, swinging sex, and other extramarital entanglements have circled the Smiths for years.
The spotlight was drawn most glaringly in the wake of Will assaulting Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars ceremony. In reference to the episode, and in what seems to be the ethos of their partnership, Jada vowed, “I’m going to be by his side, but also allow him to have to figure this out for himself.”
Here is what the stars reveal about the synastry of this power couple.
‘Worthy’ of working on it
Jada was born unto us on Sept. 18, 1971, in the port city of Baltimore, making her a triple Virgo, with her sun, moon and Mercury all falling in the mutable earth sign.
Born on a new moon in the sign of refinement, Jada’s celestial makeup suggests a person who seeks rebirth again and again — a process that ensures she will be bettered by and through every change.
Rulers of the sixth house of service and ethics, Virgo is dutiful even and especially when it is to their own detriment. Leave it to a quadruple Virgo like Jada to admit she never wanted to marry Will and yet still dedicate a majority of her adult life to investigating, improving, and shaping that marriage to suit the shifting needs of both parties.
Divorce ain’t the course
An earth sign like Jada commits, invests, and endures.
She recently explained, “I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”
Sticking in when most would be stepping out? Making a forever pledge and meaning it? Serious dirt work.
Virgos are the HGTV folk of the zodiac, always in the market for a fixer-upper, easily swayed by potential, and undeterred by faulty wiring or formica flooring.
As established, Jada has a dense concentration of Virgo energy, an energy associated with sanctity and the rites of temple purification.
From this vantage, we can begin to see the trajectory of her relationship with Will as the ritual process of purification and of pruning — cutting away the dead or deadening and distilling their bond into its purest form, unconditional love and absolute freedom. Jada loves Will for free and with the intention to be free.
It’s honestly f—-ing beautiful, and we should all take notes on this level of dedication and dialogue.
Virgo needs a project
When it comes to love, Virgos are the HGTV folk of the zodiac, always in the market for a fixer-upper, easily swayed by potential, and undeterred by faulty wiring or formica flooring. Trust, Jada found just the crumbling condo she needed in Will.
As an air sign ruled by Venus, Libra is about the look of it, and as an earth sign ruled by Mercury, Virgo is about the truth of it.
Born Sept. 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, Will is a “beauty is balm” Libra sun and a “learn to love your shadows” Scorpio moon.
In astrology, the sun and moon are said to be in fall in the signs of Libra and Scorpio, respectively.
By “in fall,” we mean the planetary powers are unable to fully express themselves, leading to more personal challenges — and a lifetime of working on it and working it out.
As Will would likely attest, you can’t transform without a serious dose of trauma and drama.
The sage and the student
Virgo is the refiner and the readier of the zodiac, and with a Libra sun and a Scorpio moon, Will is primed to receive Jada’s correctives.
Symbolized by an inanimate object, Libra needs the positive and/or negative force of another person in order to define, discern, and decide for themselves.
As an air sign ruled by Venus, Libra is about the look of it, and as an earth sign ruled by Mercury, Virgo is about the truth of it.
We see this difference expressed in Will and Jada’s respective memoirs.
In Will’s self-titled 2021 memoir, he made no mention of the separation between him and his wife, while she used the platform of her book release to speak openly and honestly about their distinctive relationship dynamic.
Jada’s Aquarius Mars exists to show us what is possible when we suspend what is conventional.
Add to the star soup that Jada and Will’s sun signs, Virgo and Libra, sit next to each other on the zodiac wheel.
This locality often creates a student/teacher relationship dynamic in which one party leads the other through a series of lessons — often painful, but always in service of evolution and redefinition.
In this scenario, Jada is the clear conductor/divine guide pushing Will to new depths and great heights.
At their dark cellar/underbelly/shadowy worst, Libra is the sign of the codependent social climber, and Will’s relationship with Jada is kind of a lighthouse of medicine, showing him that he is whole on his own and loved, as Pisces novelist Victor Hugo says, because and in spite of himself.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the star
- The 12 zodiac signs
- What are the astrology houses
- Here’s what each planet represents
- Sun, moon and rising signs: Get to know your Big 3
Come at me with your weird, and I will welcome you
If you’re wondering why Jada seems ultra progressive when it comes to sex and relationships, it’s because this powerhouse has Mars, planet of action and desire, will and want in “weird is my birthright, the future is now” Aquarius.
Ruled by structured Saturn and burn-it-to-the-ground Uranus, the Aquarius Mars exists to show us what is possible when we suspend what is conventional.
We see the planetary energy of Aquarius at work in the ever-evolving relationship dynamic between these two, which feels like it is trying to operate with strategy, beyond ego, and in service of the greater good and familial whole. Can dig.
Critical degrees and codependent tendencies
Interestingly, both Jada and Will have Venus, planet of love, beauty and attachment in the cardinal sign of Libra, suggesting that they share an aesthetic sensibility and a commitment to learning through long-term relationships.
Tellingly, Venus is at home in Libra and feels incomplete without someone to do the work with.
Jada’s zodiac energy is a lesson in how to expand ethically and explore compassionately.
Curiously, Will’s Venus sits at a high pitch 29 degrees of Libra.
Known as an anaretic or critical degree, this is the last possible point before a sign shifts into another.
The suggestion here is that love, attachment, self-worth and relationships will be of crucial importance to Will in this lifetime.
This is some cosmic, karmic s–t, and there is a tendency towards extremes with anaretic degrees — in this case, being overly dependent upon, or deeply avoidant of, romantic love.
As Alice Sparkly Kat notes of Will’s Venus/Mars combination, “You choose people who you believe will make you the best version of who you are.”
Because Will’s critical degree reflects both the sign of partnership and the planet of attachment, it is easy to see why his romantic road has not been a paved path.
He is meant to go to the edges and plumb the depths of human connection to discern his own desires and discover his true potential within and beyond the realms of romantic attachment.
Again, we can see the ways in which the student/teacher dynamic he shares with Jada could be both profound — and profoundly painful for him.
You see, folks, Jada doesn’t need Will, and that knowledge can allow him, if he’s willing, to show up for himself and also take accountability for his own actions, or perhaps more importantly for the Libra archetype, inactions.
Jada loves Will for free and with the intention to be free.
Jada’s zodiac energy is a lesson in how to expand ethically and explore compassionately — always a challenge for a Scorpio moon like Will, who prefer always and ever to feel like they’re getting away with something, rather than they’ve been given clear acceptance around doing anything.
They like the shadows, the sneak-around and the slink-away.
Tell me you have a Scorpio moon without telling me you have a Scorpio moon. How about with this headline? “Will Smith tripped 14 times on ayahuasca with ‘Mother’ and went to tantric sex expert after splitting with Jada.”
This is not the way of Virgos like Jada, who favor transparency and will dig in deep before they strike out or step out.
As they both admit, she never cheated and has always met her man with absolute honesty, be it beautiful or brutal — and all points between.
You can’t spell evolution without love
How apropos that Jada would choose to release “Worthy” in the thick of Libra season, a time when leaves fall, fires burn, and we are called to evaluate our relationships, the roles we play within them and the patterns we project onto them.
Indeed, when we subscribe to a narrow definition of what love should/must look like, we sell ourselves short on the potential of what love can be like.
Jada, through her candor and her memoir, suggests we should exalt in our own worth, while being free to explore how a partner might join us at the altar of the love that feeds us best and most. Bless up and shine on.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.