Jada Pinkett Smith Once Shared Doing ‘Magic Mike XXL’ Helped Her Relationship With Will Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith once had a lead role in the second Magic Mike movie. The film not only helped round out her filmography, but it also helped with personal issues. Magic Mike showed her how to deal with a side of her husband Will Smith that she wasn’t always tolerant of.
What Jada Pinkett Smith learned about men after starring in ‘Magic Mike XXL’
Magic Mike XXL was the 2015 sequel to the original Magic Mike starring Channing Tatum. The film told the story of a group of male strippers, with Pinkett Smith playing the owner of a male strip club. Tatum offered Pinkett Smith the role, who was intrigued by the film’s themes. Especially since its story was an uncommon one in cinema.
“Channing came to me and asked ‘How can we make adult entertainment responsible and fun?’ And I replied, ‘You know what, I’m down for the ride because I’ve been wondering the same thing because stripping is going to exist,’” she once said in an interview with Independent.
Pinkett Smith quipped that she enjoyed watching her male co-stars entertain on stage. So much so that she’d even come to watch them during her off days.
“I did not miss one dance routine. I always found the best seat in the house. But I’ve got to be honest, I’m not a big fan of thongs – but it works in this,” she said.
But what she found especially fascinating was the way her male co-stars behaved when their own life partners weren’t on set.
“I got to be a witness to how men interact when women aren’t around and the importance of male bonding time because men are completely different with each other than they are with us. Then I got to witness how when their wives and beautiful fiances would come on set, everything changed, and to see a complete shift,” she said.
How doing ‘Magic Mike XXL’ helped Jada Pinkett Smith’s relationship with Will Smith
Pinkett Smith not only felt she learned more about men while doing the feature, but also her own husband. The Gotham star admitted that Smith’s energy was just something she didn’t want to deal with on certain days.
“He’s a silly man all day long. He’s the guy who hides behind the door and jumps out. He’s that guy. All day. He’s just a big freaking kid. I always play the role of like, ‘Ok, you be the kid. Ok, that’s cute,” Pinkett Smith once said according to Contact Music.
But after doing the Tatum flick, she began enjoying those moments with Smith a lot more.
“[But since Magic Mike XXL, I’ve] learnt to enjoy that playfulness in him much more and participate in it versus, like, tolerate it,” she said.
Jada Pinkett Smith believed the key to a successful marriage was accepting both the ‘god and the devil in your partner’
Pinkett Smith believed it was unrealistic to expect a partner in a relationship to be ideal all the time. The Matrix Reloaded star felt all sides of a partner needed to be embraced to succeed in a relationship. It was a philosophy she had to learn during her decades-long relationship with Smith himself.
“Love the god and the devil in your partner,” she said. “And that’s the truth. You have to be able to sit as close to someone when they’re in the light as when they’re in the dark. You have to be friends. Having that understanding allows me to look at Will as a man and as this beautiful other worldly creature and to be able to walk with him hand-in-hand and for him to be able to look at me in the same way, takes a lot of love, depth and friendship.”
