Jada Pinkett-Smith on Will Smith Open Marriage Rumors: I Tell Him to "Do Whatever You Want"

Hey, whatever works. Jada Pinkett-Smith addressed a longstanding rumor about her 16-year marriage to Will Smith in a new interview with HuffPost Live: That she and Will, 44, have an open relationship.

"No, I think that people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another," replied the actress and mother of actor-singers Willow, 12, and Jaden, 14. The 41-year-old star then continued of the "persistent" rumor: "But 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, without going into further specifics.

"Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man," she said of the Men in Black star. "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," she said, adding: "Or vice versa."

The couple have battled more than one false report of an imminent divorce, most memorably in summer 2011, when the couple, who wed in 1997, slammed split rumors -- and talk that Pinkett Smith had an affair with HawthoRN costar Marc Anthony during his marriage to Jennifer Lopez. "Will is my best friend," she told HuffPost Live. "He's been by my side for some of the most difficult parts of my life. You always have that for your foundation."

Source: usmagazine.com/