Jada Pinkett-Smith Defines Open Relationship For Her Marriage

Jada Pinket Smith and Will Smith have not hidden the fact that their marriage is an open one, even if in the past we were not sure what that meant for them. In a recent interview she clarified that it means "respecting that you're in a partnership, but knowing that you're an individual as well."

I am fine with that kind of an open relationship, and even polygamy as I said here. I am not an advocate, nor will I promote it, but I think the relationship with one's husband is something each woman has to make a personal decision about and not be influenced unnecessarily by those who aren't living it with them.

For me, open relationships are those in which you tell me when you begin to fall for someone else, and we can decide what to do about it. Will I give permission, probably not. 

Some may say this opens the door to cheating, but I think it promotes honesty and communication first of all, and who says there's no cheating in relationships where the parties are all jealous and possessive?

I think that cheating cuts across both genders. However, in a relationship with friendship and mutual respect, I think it is easier to make cheating a non-issue.

In the interview above on HuffPost, Jada addressed the speculation that she and Will Smith have an open marriage.

"I've always told Will, 'You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay'. Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I'm here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that's not for me to do for him. Or vice versa." 

"I don't think it's easy to be married to anyone, I think that you have to go into a relationship knowing -- especially when you're dedicating to someone for the rest of your life -- this is a life partnership ... He's my best friend. He's been by my side through some of the most difficult parts of my life. And so that's something you can never take away."

Will said in another interview. "What's helped us is being supportive, no matter what the situation is. I'm so lucky to have someone like Jada. She's really an incredible woman, wife and mother. ...she is just absolutely hardcore, like she absolutely is unfazed by the weight and the pressures of life. She is so calm and cool and easy in any situation. She can bear anything, and I just love that about her."

Now I know many people are opposed to any meaning of the word open when it comes to relationship or marriage, but do you think Jada and Will are proof that it could work?