Jada Pinkett Smith says she and Will Smith were separated for 6 years before Oscars slap

Actor Jada Pinkett Smith was surprised that her husband Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022, she told People magazine in an interview posted Wednesday. “I thought, ‘This is a skit,'” she told the magazine.

Pinkett Smith also told People that at the time of the Oscars incident, she and Smith had been separated for six years.

Pinkett Smith spoke to the outlet ahead of the release of her new memoir “Worthy,” which will be released by HarperCollins imprint Dey Street Books later this month.

In the interview, she broke her silence about the Oscars incident, where Smith walked onstage during the awards show and struck Rock after the Oscars host made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s hair, which is shaved because she has alopecia.

“I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him,'” Pinkett Smith said. “It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”

After the Oscars, when the couple were alone, Pinkett Smith said she asked Smith, “Are you OK?”

Pinkett Smith also opened up about her mental health in the People interview, discussing her struggles with depression — including considering suicide — and her use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca.