Will Smith‘s bizarre response to Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage bombshells in new memoir

With his personal life under intense scrutiny following his wife’s bombshell revelations, Will Smith has issued a baffling statement.

Will Smith has finally responded, days after his estranged wife stunned fans with the revelation that they’d secretly broken up seven years ago.

It was just one of the many secrets Pinkett Smith shared recently as she hit the publicity trail for her upcoming memoir, Worthy.

In an email to the New York Times, Smith, 55, admitted that her series of bombshells “kind of woke him up” to the fact that she is more “resilient, clever and compassionate than [he’d] understood”, and that he’d developed “emotional blindness” to her “hidden nuances”.

“When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life a sort of emotional blindness sets in, and you can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties,” the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star told the Times amid fresh scrutiny over his private life.

The former couple - pictured here looking cosy in 2019 - had secretly separated three years earlier. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The Hollywood stars married in 1997 and were considered one of the strongest couples in showbiz in the years that followed.

They share two children, Jaden, 25, and Willow, 22, while Smith also has son, Trey, 30, from his first marriage.

The family at the Men In Black 2 premiere in 2002. Picture: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Smith’s statement comes just days after his estranged wife stunned fans with news that she and the King Richard star had secretly separated in 2016.

Pinkett Smith then shared more details of the split with US host Hoda Kotb on NBC News, explaining why the marriage had broken down.

“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” the star admitted.

“I think we were both still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

Pinkett Smith added that she never wanted to get divorced from Smith.

“I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce,” she said

“We will work through whatever. And I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”

She also debunked persistent rumours that Smith may be secretly gay.

“I mean, a million things were out there,” Pinkett Smith told host Kotb.

“No. You know, that’s part of it. I would say that none of that’s true. I definitely can understand why there’d be misunderstandings,” she added, “but none of it’s true.”

Pinkett Smith has lifted the lid on their marriage. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Pinkett Smith’s shock news followed years of speculation about the Hollywood couple’s marriage – and speaking to People magazine about their separation, she also revealed that Chris Rock had made a move on her once he’d gotten wind of it.

“Basically, he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out’,” the Girls Trip star told the publication.

“And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumours’.

“He was appalled. And he profusely apologised and that was that.”

Pinkett Smith, who starred alongside Rock in the Madagascar franchise, did not specify when the conversation occurred.