R&B singer August Alsina has confirmed that he's had a romantic relationship with Jada Pinkett-Smith — which also confirmed the worst kept secret in Hollywood: Will and Jada have an open relationship. The singer made a 2019 song called “Nunya,” which was about a love interest named “Koren,” which is Jada's middle name. On the song, he sang, “You got me feeling like it was an act, you’re just an actress/Putting on a show ’cause you don’t want the world to know.”
He said in an interview about the relationship, “… Walking away from it butchered me … It almost killed me. Not almost. It did—it pushed me into being another person … It broke me down … It probably will be the hardest thing I ever had to experience in this lifetime.”
He continued, “It’s difficult because I never want to be the person to cause confusion or step on toes, but I want to honor myself and I want to honor my authenticity. And if honoring my authenticity means you hate me, stone me, shoot me, crucify me, whatever, bury me an honest man.”
He also revealed that he had a conversation with Will Smith and Smith gave he and Jada his blessing. He explained, His truth, he says, is that with Will’s blessing, he deeply loved Jada Pinkett-Smith, “I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation. Due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership that they’ve spoken on several times, and it not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing. I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life and I truly and really really deeply loved and have a ton of love for her. I devoted myself to it. I gave my full self to it. So much so to the point that I can die right now and be okay with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody.”
He continued, “I really loved a person. I experienced that and know what that feels like, and some people never experience that in this lifetime, so I know that I am completely blessed. This conversation is difficult because there’s so much that people don’t understand, but once it starts to affect me and my livelihood, I have to speak up about my truth and stand on my ten with anything that may come along with it.”