Jada Pinkett Smith has denied an allegation from R&B singer and family friend August Alsina that the two carried on a romantic relationship with the blessing of her husband, Will Smith.
Reps for Jada told Page Six that August’s claims are “absolutely not true.” HuffPost has also reached out to her reps for comment.
In an emotional, wide-ranging interview with The Breakfast Club host Angela Yee, released on Tuesday, August claimed that Will and Jada are “life partners” who are no longer romantically involved, which allowed him to have an affair with the Girls Trip star.
“I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation,” August told Angela.
“Due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership that they’ve spoken on several times, and it not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing. 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.”
“I devoted myself to it. I gave my full self to it. So much so to the point that I can die right now and be OK with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody,” he continued, adding, “I really loved the person that I experienced that and know what that feels like, and some people never get that in this lifetime.”
Jada, 51, and the Bad Boys star, 51, wed in 1997 and have become one of the most recognisable and long-lasting couples in Hollywood.
While the two have never publicly spoken about infidelity, they have been candid about the struggles they’ve faced. On Jada’s Facebook talk show, she’s discussed how they’ve outgrown the term “married” and are instead “redefining the marriage as a life partnership.”
The couple also admitted that for a period of time they “broke up within our marriage” in order to rebuild it, but they said they never considered divorce as an option.
August told Angela that he fell in love with Jada after they were introduced at her children Jaden and Willow Smith’s London concert in 2015.
He then developed a close bond with the entire family, joining them on a trip to Hawaii the following year.
August and Jada have been photographed and seen together many times in the years since, including on the BET Awards red carpet back in 2017.
In 2018, he appeared on Red Table Talk and explained how Jada had helped him overcome his struggle with addiction. She introduced him as a “dear family friend” at the time.
When asked if he was disappointed that Jada never confirmed their alleged relationship, the singer said he had no ill feelings toward her.
“I really can’t even get into the thought of that because I am only responsible for myself, right? I am only responsible for, you know, what I do,” he said. “When I am repressing and suppressing things and it starts to affect me, I have to address it. I just always stay solid because I never want to be the person to cause confusion.”
While the singer didn’t give a clear timeframe for the alleged affair, he said that his sister’s death in 2018 was one of the reasons they called it quits.
Although he said he’d lost “money, friendships and relationships” due to rumours of the affair over the years, August maintained that he still “really, genuinely” loves Jada and the rest of her family.
“I don’t have a bad thing to say about them,” he added. “They are beautiful people.”