While rumors had been swirling for years, it seems like the truth may have finally come out. August Alsina, a singer-songwriter who's currently signed to Def Jam, has claimed that he's been in a relationship with Jada Pinkett Smith, which might prove that Jada and husband Will Smith have an open marriage.
According to Newsweek, Jada has denied the rumors through her rep. Will, on the other hand, hasn't responded. But August seems to stand by his story, especially since he openly hinted at the relationship once before. He went so far as to mention it in a music video.
Open marriages often have varying terms. However, typically it means that partners are allowed to have extramarital sexual relationships with others. Will and Jada are often seen as one of Hollywood's success stories. The two married in 1997 and have two children together and three total, including Will's older son from another relationship. They met after Jada auditioned for a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. While she didn't get the role, she did wind up romancing lead star Will Smith. Rumors have been flying for years that their arrangement isn't traditional.
The two have discussed open marriages in past interviews. But they've denied that they're in one.
The rumors seemed to start around 2005, after an interview that Will did with the Daily Mail. Per Newsweek, Will stated, "If it came down to it, then one can say to the other, 'Look, I need to have sex with somebody,'" he said. "I'm not going to if you don't approve of it — but please approve of it.'"
To battle those claims, Jada reportedly said that they don't have an open relationship. But they do have a mature one. Later, she mentioned the rumor that they were swingers on Watch What Happens Live. "It's constant," she said. "And I'm like, yo. I wish."
August Alsina first made people question a possible relationship with the star based on his music video for 2019 song "Nunya." In the video, he receives a text from someone by the name of Koren. That just happens to be Jada's middle name, and one that isn't extremely popular, leading people to believe something happened.
"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," he said during an interview with The Breakfast Club host Angela Yee. He even said that he sat down with Will to discuss the arrangement.
"I actually sat down with Will [Smith] and had a conversation," he said. "He gave me his blessing." August and Jada reportedly met in 2015. Oddly enough, they first met thanks to Jada's son, Jaden. In the interview, he seems sincere about his feelings.
August reportedly depended on Jada for emotional support. In 2018, it came out that Jada was one of the driving forces that helped August beat his battle with Percocet addiction. Back in 2014, he passed out onstage while performing at Irving Plaza in New York. That's when people became aware of the problem.
After taking a leave of absence from the spotlight, August went on Jada's popular web TV show Red Table Talk to explain what happened. He felt secure enough talking to Jada and credits her for helping him improve his life. It's a tough battle, but August seems to have won.
Supposedly, Jada's past isn't as clean as you'd assume. Growing up, she was a drug dealer. She admitted it while doing press for her film Girls Trip, describing how she ended up meeting Tupac Shakur during this time. "One of the things that's very interesting that I've never really said before is that when I first met Pac, when we first met, I was a drug dealer," she said, per CNN.
Eventually, she found her way out of that life. "As I was coming out of the life, he was coming more into the life," she said, in regard to Tupac. "I was coming out, he was going in, there was a point at which we met and then we were kind of going our separate ways."
She went on to say, "Pac and I's relationship was about survival." So it makes sense that she'd be a great source of love and support for August. "Alcoholism and drug addiction runs through my family and I have had my own addictions that I've had to get over and it just made me realize that really great people just get caught up," she stated at the beginning of August's episode. Her mother was also featured on the episode, as she battled a heroin addiction 27 years prior.
Emotionally, it makes sense that a relationship between Jada and August relationship would blossom due to the emotional support. According to The Independent, he stated that walking away from the relationship was "probably … the hardest thing" that he's had to experience "in this lifetime."
"It almost killed me," he said. "Not almost. It did — it pushed me into being another person." He also said he loved the actress. Meanwhile, Jada is claiming that these statements are a complete lie. If that's the case, the statement will truly damage the friendship they notably had.
No matter what, it's apparent these two did have a legitimate bond. But it's tough to tell who's telling the truth on how far it went. At the very least, it doesn't seem to have hurt Jada and Will's relationship or partnership at all.
No matter what their arrangement is, it seems to work for them. Both Will and Jada have managed to have successful careers, a stable family, and a strong partnership. Marriage comes in all forms — so if August is telling the truth, it's something Jada shouldn't be embarrassed about.
