Will Smith reportedly felt more 'pressure' to make marriage with Jada Pinkett Smith work

Will Smith reportedly felt "more of the pressure" to make his marriage with Jada Pinkett work when they were privately separated a few years ago.

After Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith spoke about the struggles in their marriage on the latter's Facebook Watch show, a source close to the high-profile couple claimed to People magazine that the "Men in Black" star felt extra pressure to make their marriage work.

"They're two different people trying to make it, and on top of it there's this huge spotlight on them," the source said, noting that "people are always going to grow and change, but most don't have the world watching their every move while they do that."

Meanwhile, a different source- a pal of Jada, revealed to the outlet that the "Girls Trip" star never stopped loving her husband even after their separation and continued to call her marriage with the 51-year-old actor "special."

"She would be the first person to admit marriage is hard work, but she will always love Will. Even when they haven't been together, Jada always spoke of her marriage as something special," the insider said.

Will and Jada's marriage was recently embroiled in controversy after rapper August Alsina claimed that he was in a relationship with the actress, who has been married to Will for 23 years now. The rapper even claimed that the extra-marital affair had the blessings of the "Aladdin" star, leading to speculations that the couple of more than two decades were in an open marriage.

"I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation, due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership. He gave me his blessing - I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life," the 27-year-old had claimed.

Will and Jada later addressed Alsina's claims on Jada's "Red Table Talk," which shattered all records of the show and has garnered over 31 million views on the episode as of now. On the show, Jada admitted being in a relationship with the rapper but clarified that it happened when she and Will had privately split a few years ago.

Jada also clarified that Aslina might have perceived that Will has given him permission to date his wife because she and Will were cordial after their separation and Aslina had spoken to the actor about it.

"The only person that can give permission in that particular circumstance is myself. I could actually see how he would perceive it as permission because we were separated amicably and I think he also wanted to make it clear that he's also not a home-wrecker. Which he's not," she said adding that she hasn't spoken to the rapper in years.