Jada Pinkett Smith "never wanted" to get married.
The ‘Girls Trip’ star has been married to Will Smith – with whom she has son Jaden, 21, and daughter Willow, 18 – for over two decades, and has said that whilst she loves being his wife now, she never wanted to tie the knot with him two years into their relationship in 1997, but felt pressure from her family to do so after she fell pregnant with Jaden.
She said: "I never wanted to get married. But my mother was like, ‘You have to get married’ – she’s so old school – and Will wanted a family. So I said, ‘All right, maybe it’s something I should do."
Jada, 47, also didn’t get her own way when it came to the wedding, as she wanted a small intimate ceremony but both Will and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones – who is known as Gammy to her family – wanted a big traditional wedding.
The ‘Red Table Talk’ star – who was struggling with morning sickness when she tied the knot – added: "Gammy freaking called Will and cried her freaking eyes out, so then I had to have a wedding and that was infuriating."
But the star insists she always "adored" Will, 50, and now considers their relationship to be more of a "life partnership" than a marriage.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: "I had never seen a happy marriage. I adored Will, I f***ing adored him, but I just didn’t want to be married.
"It’s more of a life partnership … I don’t own him. He doesn’t own me. He has to be his own person first, and vice versa … Love is freedom."
Meanwhile, Jada recently revealed her bond with Will is "stronger" now, after they hit a rocky patch 10 years into their marriage when she felt "depleted" by her family unit not getting enough "attention and care".
She said: "I had to really take time out for me and figure out what I wanted for myself. I had to kind of put everyone aside and ask, ‘What would I do every day if it was just Jada?’ I literally had no idea.
"I am kind of a ride-or-die chick. I just knew with the kind of love that Will and I share – which is beyond romantic love – that we could transform our union and figure out how to re-create what we had.
"The journey between Will and me … we have come to such a beautiful place. I feel like we have a stronger bond than we even had in the beginning."
Jada Pinkett Smith didn’t want to marry
