A-list couples who reportedly embraced open relationships

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

© AFP via Getty Images

Once upon a time, Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, were Hollywood’s ultimate power couple and the epitome of long-lasting love. That is, until the phrase “entanglement” entered the picture and changed pop culture forever.

For years, the duo hinted that their marriage didn’t always follow tradition, with Jada writing in a 2013 Facebook post that she and Will “can do whatever we want, because we trust each other to do so”.

“This does NOT mean we have an open relationship…this means we have a GROWN one,” she concluded. Cue the raised eyebrows.

© WireImage

Their façade blew up in 2020 when rapper August Alsina claimed that he had been in an on-and-off-again relationship with Jada. “I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership that they’ve spoken on several times, and it not involving romanticism,” he said in an interview with Angela Yee.

August added that “[I] totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life and I truly and really, really deeply loved and have a ton of love for her.” What a day to be on the internet – I remember it like it was yesterday.  

Jada and Will later addressed the situation during an infamous Red Table Talk to share the truth about their relationship. “We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time, and you go figure out how to make yourself happy, and I’ll figure out how to make myself happy,” Will explained.

© Getty Images for BET

Jada added: “From there, as time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August.…Yes, it was a relationship, absolutely.” Oop.

Will then shared with GQ in 2021 that monogamy was not the ideal for them. “For the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection,” he explained.

“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can’t be a prison.”

© FilmMagic

And just when we thought their romance couldn’t get any more complicated, they proved us all wrong. Will and Jada dropped the absolute bombshell in October 2023 that they had actually been separated since 2016, and were still working on their relationship. I seriously can’t keep up. 

The best thing to come out of it all was the word “entanglement”, which has probably been used by every non-committal man ever in the years since.