As many Maryland residents have surely read about by now, according to sources close to the celebrities, actor Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith may be planning to divorce, putting an end to their 13-year marriage.
Married in Maryland in 1997, Smith and Pinkett Smith soon established themselves as one of Hollywood’s most prominent black couples. Despite the couple’s announcement in August that their marriage was healthy, sources now claim the two are living apart and have already begun the property division process.
Rumors of the couple’s ensuing divorce have been bubbling for months, with numerous reasons being suggested for the possible split. Tabloids have claimed that the couple began contemplating a divorce after Pinkett Smith had an affair with another celebrity, while other sources suggested that the couple disagreed over the pace and nature of their children’s burgeoning careers. The couple’s 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son have both begun to experience success for their own accomplishments.
While neither spouse has directly commented on these rumors, Pinkett Smith reportedly made a recent visit to a divorce attorney known for representing celebrities.
A crisis-management consultant experienced with celebrity divorces said that while none of the rumors can be taken as fact, they may still point to marital problems, because if the rumors persist, there’s usually a reason. The consultant added that divorce could cause problems for the careers of each party, because both spouses went to great lengths in marketing how strong the family was.
It is not known at this point if the couple signed a prenuptial agreement. Because California is a community property state, whoever made the most in terms of money and assets during the marriage stands to lose a lot if there was no agreement.
Source: The Daily Beast, “Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Hollywood Power Marriage May Be Ending,” Allison Samuels, Jan. 6, 2011
