People confused over Will Smith's Oscars slap after Jada reveals they had been separated seven years

People are flocking to social media to question why Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars when he and Jada Pinkett Smith had split.

Will Will Smith ever escape people talking about his powerful slap across comedian Chris Rock's face at the 94th Annual Academy Awards just before picking up the Academy Award for Best Actor?

Well, it would seem like it's going to haunt him for a good while yet, people having flocked to social media to reflect on the infamous slap after Jada revealed she and Will separated seven years ago.

Despite still being married - with no plans to divorce anytime soon - Jada revealed earlier today (Wednesday, 11 October) she and Will have been secretly separated since 2016

Jada revealed the news in an interview ahead of the release of her new book, Worthy, which is set to come out next week.

On the Today show, Jada explained by the time the pair got to 2016 they were 'just exhausted with trying' and 'both still stuck in [their own] fantasy of what [they] thought the other person should be'.

However, they didn't decide to go down the divorce route, instead quietly separating, but outwardly remaining a couple.

Getty Images/ Mike Coppola

Fans of the Smith family have since flooded to social media confused why Will yelled at Chris at the 2022 Oscars now Jada has revealed the pair were actually separated at the time.

Shouting up at Chris from his seat, Will yelled: "Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth."

Will then proceeded to climb onto the stage and deliver a fairly brutal slap to Chris' cheek.

The incident led to Will being banned from the academy for 10 years and people are questioning why he defended her so vehemently and called her his 'wife' when the pair were actually split up.

One X - formerly known as Twitter - user took to the platform to share a clip of Will shouting at Chris, alongside the caption: "Jada Smith says her and Will Smith have been separated since 2016, than why tf did Will Smith say this in Oscars, and slapped Chris Rock?"

"Good point. No guy makes a fool out of himself and someone else in front of, well let's be honest, the whole world; jeopardizing his entire career for someone he ain't smashed in seven years. Kids or no kids. I wouldn't do that for a girlfriend I haven't seen in seven months," another added.

And a third questioned: "Tryna win her back?"

X/ @moviere09350416

However, a fourth user argued: "So he can't defend her because they are separated, she's the mother of his children, he clearly still loves her.... let the man be."

And at the end of the day, Chris' 'G.I. Jane' joke, made fun of Jada's shaved head - a decision she made due to having alopecia. So, 'wife' or not, Will was ultimately sticking up for what he thought was right - although, that's certainly not to condone his actions.

A final user resolved: "I don’t get the comments about will slapping Chris Rock. Just because people are separated doesn’t mean they don’t care about each other.

"I can’t stand will smith, so I’m not defending him personally, or the slap which was ridiculous, but, jada was sitting with him that night."

So, there we have it.