It was their first appearance since the 94th Academy Awards, where Will won Best Actor for his work in King Richard, but also made worldwide headlines for slapping comedian Chris Rock after he joked about Jada being bald.
While Jada didn’t interact with photogs, Will was all smiles, even waving. The smile was in stark contrast to the look on the Oscar winner’s face when he spoke out, on camera in an apology video posted to his social pages a few weeks ago.
“I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out,” Will shared. “So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
While he awaits that communication, the star seems to be in good spirits. It helps that he has Jada by his side. The two inadvertently showed some PDA as they were photographed by paparazzi, with Jada hanging on to her husband’s belt strap to stay by his side. And PDA is something the couple know a lot about. They’ve been showing it plenty since they became an item in 1995. Since everyone’s talking about Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we thought we’d compile some sweet photos of their PDA moments, as well as share everything they’ve said about their unconventional love story. Check out both below.
01
In It to Win It
“Here’s the thing about Will and I, it’s like, we are family, that’s never going down,” Jada has said. “It doesn’t matter, all that relationship and what people think, ideas of a husband and a partner and all that, man, whatever, at the end of the day, that’s a man that can rely on me for the rest of his life, period.”
Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
02
Life Partners
What the couple have is deeper than what can be defined as a marriage alone. “We don’t even say we’re married anymore. We refer to ourselves as life partners, where you get into that space where you realize you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life,” Will said. “There’s no deal breakers. There’s nothing she could do — ever. Nothing that would break our relationship,” he continued. “She has my support till death and it feels so good to get to that space.”
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
03
A Lucky Man
“What’s helped us is being supportive, no matter what the situation is,” Will said. “I’m so lucky to have someone like Jada. She’s really an incredible woman, wife and mother.”
Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
04
Making Their Relationship a Lasting One
“Nice outfits and high heels! And talking. And making time. You’ve got to make time,” Jada once said when sharing advice for how to maintain a marriage after many years. “Our men want to feel important. We want to feel important. So it’s about establishing an environment in which that can happen. It can be hard because we get caught in the grind of life. Establish relationships with family members or friends and take turns with each other’s kids so you can make that time for yourselves.”
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
05
Throwing Out the Rule Book
“We used to have all these rules, [but] as you go on in your relationship, you just get into a flow,” Jada said. “The thing I love is being in a place where it’s just like, Will, to me, encompasses everything. It’s almost as if calling him ‘my husband’ is too small of a word for what he means in my life — and especially how I feel we, as women, identify the idea of a husband. I really had to mature and expand that.”
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
06
A Listening Ear
When Jada is overwhelmed, her family helps to reel her in, specifically Will.
“He has a really unique perspective on things. Usually he can help me balance out everything with a conversation, which is great,” she said.
07
Together but Free
“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love,” Will said.
08
Family First
“We make the effort to always put the family first,” Will shared in the past. “Being there for each other and being present with our kids is the most important thing. I take being a parent very seriously.”
SGranitz/WireImage
09
Best Friends
“Will is my best friend,” Jada said. “He’s been by my side for some of the most difficult parts of my life. You always have that for your foundation.”
Charley Gallay/WireImage
10
Helping One Another Blosson
“Love is Like Gardening… I have learned to focus on HELPING you to BLOSSOM into what YOU want to be (into what you were born to be)… Rather than Demanding that you become what my Fragile Ego needs you to be,” he wrote for their anniversary.
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
11
Redefining What It Is to Be a Good Wife
“Love and honesty are the things that make a good wife and mother. You could say, ‘Oh, a good mother is going to pick her kids up every day.’ In my household, as long as my children feel loved and they feel like we’re being honest with them, they pretty much can flow in any direction. Same with my husband,” Jada said. “As long as I’m honest with him and he knows that I love him, he couldn’t care less about anything else. If I decide one minute that I want to fly to the moon and build a house on Mars or whatever, he’s down for it. He’s down for whatever.”
Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic
12
The Freedom to Do What They Want
“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,” she said. “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.”
Kevin Mazur Archive 1/WireImage
13
Self-Work
“Personally, in my journey, what I had to realize was that I had to find all the peace, love and joy within my heart in order to bring it to the table to share,” she said. “Will had to go away and find the peace, love and joy in his heart to share. So that’s what we share instead of our traumas from our childhood, all of our insecurities and fears that we usually come to the table within our relationships to have our partners fix.”
Vince Bucci/Getty Images
14
How They Keep Their Love Spicy
“A night walk? Man, do I love those. Or pack a lunch and go to the park, like Will and I did,” Jada said. “Even a drive — and then pull over on the side of the road! Think of places outside that are comfortable to have sex. Does he have access to his office? Have a fantasy date. Be his secretary! Be sneaky. Your girlfriend’s house at a party. The bathroom! A guest bedroom! Just switch it up. Anything like that can keep it going. Anything it takes to keep the flame alive.”
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
15
Celebrating A Non-Traditional Marriage
“Specifically for me, in regards to redefining my marriage as a life partnership was the necessity of autonomy for myself and for Will,” she said. “And finding the core of us that wanted to be together outside of the constraints of the traditional ideas of marriage because they weren’t working for us. We went on that journey to find that autonomy and to find the true authentic bond outside of obligation. I don’t want you to be obligated.”
