Humans are always out for the pursuit of happiness - but when do we finally get there?
For Jada Pinkett Smith, she didn't feel properly happy until she was 47 years old, a revelation that came out recently on her American web TV show, Red Table Talk.
In Monday’s episode, the mother-of-two was joined by Jane the Virgin actor Justin Baldoni, rapper Wale, daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, to discuss 'What Men Really Think About Love' - and it sparked some fascinating admissions.
Speaking candidly about the ups and downs in her relationship with husband Will Smith, the actress brought up the difference between the expectation of falling in love with someone, and the reality of living with their flaws.
"Let me tell you, nobody talks about the sacrifice, the deteriorating and dissolving of fantasies," she explained. "You right now, have in your mind, your perfect woman. And when you find that woman, she will be a goddess to you. We fall in love with the goddess, or the god, within that person, and then when we actually meet the human being, then we gotta learn how to love that one."
The Girls Trip star, who grew up in a single parent home and entered her relationship with Will with "a lot of pain" continued: "The reason why it is so important to me to be able to stick it out, to really get to the true meaning of love, in my opinion, it is unconditional. It has to be, because we are all too flawed. No matter how much work we do! It never ends."
Jada added that she felt "angry towards men" and kept high expectations of what she wanted from a partner. However, when she got together with Will, her "whole perspective" changed when she realised she couldn't "ask someone to be for me what I’m not willing to be for them."
"I could’ve ended up with all kinds of dudes," she said. "The way I ended up with Will, I had to change my whole perspective. ‘Cause I want you to know something, he was not the dude. But I had to change that. I can’t ask someone to be for me what I’m not willing to be for them. Because we knew this was what was meant to be — this partnership. No matter what the form is. We’ve had to redefine it. We don't call ourselves married anymore. We’re in a life partnership."
Confessing "there have been several occasions where you just had enough and you want to leave and I just couldn’t. Or Will just couldn't," she discussed how the trials she and Will were put through had made them stronger at the end of the day.
"At the end of the day, to know that you have another person that can love you for all that you are [...] Will has loved me through the worst of myself," she continued. "And I have done the same. When somebody can love you in that way, it makes your faith in the world come together. I am 47-years-old and I want you to know, that this is probably the first year of my life that I can say, 'I am happy,' because that’s how long the journey has been."
Glad to hear you are finally completely happy, Jada!
If you think this episode was interesting, you just wait until Jada has Jordyn Woods on the show on Friday to discuss the Tristan Thompson cheating scandal...
