Will Smith, one of the the greatest box office attractions in the history of American motion pictures and the prince of Hollywood, has never lost sight on the most important thing in his life: his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Smith, 49, shared his sweet sentiments for his wife this week, marking the 20th anniversary of their nuptials at Cloisters Castle in Pikesville, Maryland on New Year’s Eve of 1997.
The Academy Award-nominated star of Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness wrote on Instagram alongside a shot from their wedding ceremony. The Philadelphia native listed what he’s “learned since” tying the knot with Jada, who he began dating in 1995.
“20 Years Ago Today we held hands and walked naively down that aisle,” wrote Smith, the star of such blockbusters as Independence Day, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, I Robot, Enemy of the State and Hitch. “Here’s what I’ve learned since. 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.”
Smith, who recently headlined the $90M Netflix film Bright, said he’s learned that love is “listening”, “giving,” and “freedom” amid his two-decade marriage, that has produced two children, Jaden, 19, and Willow, 17.
“I’ve learned to take pleasure in Nourishing YOUR dreams… Rather than wrestling with you to Fulfill my Selfish Needs & Satiate My Insecurities. . I have learned that Love is Listening. Love is Giving. Love is Freedom. . Happy Anniversary, My Queen! I am forever Devoted to Nurturing your Deepest Truth.”
Smith talked to “Entertainment Tonight” in 2015 about his Hollywood union, saying that “at the end of the day, it’s just not quitting.”
“You can’t expect it to be easy, it’s like our marriage was the most difficult, grueling, excruciating thing that we have ever taken on in our lives,” he said. “And you know, we’re just not quitters.”
The veteran entertainer noted that the two have avoided joint counseling ventures to focus on their personal issues. He said: “If there is a secret, I would say is that we never went into working in our relationship. We only ever worked on ourselves individually, and then presented ourselves to one another better than we were previously.”
Pinkett-Smtih, 46, also spoke in 2015 about their marriage in an interview with Howard Stern. And she seconded her husband’s statement that maintaining the marriage is an ongoing process.
“You’ve got to be strong … it takes work,” said the star of Menace II Society, Set it Off and The Matrix. “Thank God I have a husband who’s just a gangster partner because can you just imagine taking that road together from 25 to 44?”
