Romantic entanglements, celebrity feuds, struggles with drugs and alcohol — Jada Pinkett Smith proved long ago that there’s no topic too personal for her Facebook Watch series, “Red Table Talk.”
And in the latest episode, the 50-year-old host made it clear that includes her sexual relationship with husband Will Smith.
During an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, who just released a six-part Netflix series called “Sex, Love & Goop," Pinkett Smith addressed the challenges she’s faced when it comes to maintaining a healthy and enjoyable sex life at home.
“It’s hard,” she told her guest. "The thing Will and I talk about a lot is the journey.”
And for them, it’s a journey that started a long time ago.
The actors first met in the early ‘90s, when she auditioned for a role on Smith’s hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (a role she didn’t get). Before long, they were dating and by 1997, the pair wed.
“We started in this at a very young age, you know, 22 years old,” Pinkett Smith continued. “That's why the accountability part really hit for me, because I think you expect your partner to know (what you need), especially when it comes to sex. It's like, 'Well, if you love me, you should know. If you love me, you should read my mind.'”
But eventually, she realized that way of thinking is "a huge pitfall."
Paltrow agreed, calling it “weird” the way it can make a partner feel, “It's like someone doesn't read your mind and we feel crushed."
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And that’s why Pinkett Smith and Smith, who share two children together, decided to approach their sexual expectations in a different way.
“You tell me what you need; tell me what you want,” the “Girls Trip” star said, summing it up. “I know that I have to be accountable to do the same. ... I really try. It's uncomfortable, but it's deeply healthy. And I think around sex, because it's something that we don't talk about, there's so much fantasy around it."
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And when it comes to tell-all talk, it’s a two-way street for the couple.
Just last month, Smith opened up about their marriage in a feature for GQ, noting that the secret to making it work has nothing to do with what goes on in the bedroom.
Instead, one year after he and his wife spoke publicly about an extramarital romance she once had, he explained that the secret lies in not trying to control each other.
“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way,” he said. “And marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. ... But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.”