“Will’s like, ‘We just came from Oslo, going to the [2009] Nobel Peace Prize ceremony [for Barack Obama] as a family, you’ve got a big house with a lake – isn’t this amazing?!’ And I’m like, ‘No,’” she recalled. “By the time my 40th [birthday] came, I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ I was so depleted.”

The crushing loss of independence had severe repercussions on Pinkett Smith’s mental health, and when faced with thoughts of suicide, she realised it was time to take make radical changes in her life. But after sharing life with Will for so long, it was hard to regain her sense of identity.

“I had to really take time out for me and figure out what I wanted for myself,” she said. “I had to kind of put everyone aside and ask, ‘What would I do every day if it was just Jada?’ I literally had no idea.”

While redefining her relationship was an “excruciating process”, the Girls Trip actress explained that with the benefit of time, and her unshakeable bond with Will, she was able to transform her relationship for the better.

“I am kind of a ride-or-die chick,” she said. “I just knew with the kind of love that Will and I share — which is beyond romantic love — that we could transform our union and figure out how to re-create what we had.”

Jada Pinkett Smith perfectly summed up why we need independence – even in a relationship