In a PEOPLE exclusive clip of the next episode of ‘Red Table Talk,’ Jada Pinkett-Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, sat down with world-renowned couple’s therapist Esther Perel to discuss betrayal within relationships.
Jada asked Perel, “What are the alternatives to divorce? Everybody thinks as soon as you find out there’s been an affair, you have to get a divorce.” Perel replied, “I’m not of that persuasion because I think there are many relational betrayals. Contempt, neglect, and violence and indifference and nobody tells people, ‘Leave, leave, get the hell out.’”
She continued, “And especially on women, it’s the real new pressure. God forbid you still love the person who actually cheated on you. Maybe that person is a lot of things and cheated on you. It’s like the shame of staying, now that you can go you’ve got to get out.”
To that, Jada agreed stating she could relate in her marriage to #WillSmith. Jada said, “I’m asked a lot about, ‘Is there infidelity in your relationship with Will?’ And it’s like, ‘No, but there’ve been other betrayals of the heart that have been far bigger than I could even think in regards to an infidelity situation.’”
Jada revealed in a February episode of ‘Red Table Talk’ that she and Will put in a lot of work to keep their marriage together and had to go there own ways at one point to get where they are now. She said, “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,” the mother of two said. “Will had to go away and find the peace, love, and joy in his heart to share.”
She continued, “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.”
