Jada Pinkett Smith Is ‘Talking’ to Will Smith ‘About Writing a Book Together’ Following Separation Reveal: It’s Called ‘Don’t Try This at Home’
Jada Pinkett Smith’s new memoir, “Worthy,” may not be the end of her career as an author. In an interview with Extra special correspondent Carlos Greer to promote the book, Pinkett Smith announced she is in talks with Will Smith to write a new book together following the reveal of their separation and her headline-making memoir press tour.
“I know Will and I are talking about writing a book, together, called ‘Don’t Try This at Home,’” Pinkett Smith said.
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Variety reached out to Pinkett Smith’s publisher for additional information but did not hear back.
Previously on the “School of Greatness” podcast, Pinkett Smith said: “I hope one day we can write a book together. And just how we’ve been through so much. And all the gates of relating that we’ve been through. And there’s been many, and many to come. Right? But… The process that he’s going through right now, I think would be so helpful to so many men.”
Smith and Pinkett Smith married in 1997, and it was only during the latter’s recent press tour for the memoir that she revealed they actually separated in 2016. They were not together on the night of the 2022 Oscars, when Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face for making a joke at the expense of Pinkett Smith.
In a recent email to the New York Times, Smith explained that Pinkett Smith’s revelations about their marriage in her memoir “woke him up.” He realized “she had lived a life more on the edge” and that “she is more resilient, clever and compassionate” than he’d understood.
“When you’ve been with someone for more than half your life, a sort of emotional blindness sets in,” Smith wrote. “And you can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties.”
During an in-person conversation at New York City’s Perelman Performing Arts Center on Oct. 16, Pinkett Smith recalled how she and Smith “did some really deep work together” after he slapped Rock on stage at the Oscars ceremony.
“When I was sitting at the Oscars, it clicked in. As soon as I was like, ‘Oh snap, you hit Chris?’” Pinkett Smith said. “I was like, I’m riding with you. I didn’t come into this place as your wife, but I’m leaving here as your wife because we got a storm we’re going to have to deal with together. I am not gonna leave your side.”
After Smith slapped Rock, he returned to his seat and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.” Pinkett Smith told NBC News that she was caught off guard in that moment as Smith had not called her his “wife” for a while before that.
“First of all, I’m really shocked, because mind you, I’m not there. We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time,” Pinkett Smith said. “I’m like, ‘What is going on right now? Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth?’ I’m really worried for Will because I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Worthy” is now available for purchase.
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