JADA PINKETT-SMITH RESPONDS TO OPEN RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS WITH HER HUSBAND WILL SMITH

JADA PINKETT-SMITH

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith must know the secret to a successful marriage. The two have been married for nearly 16 years -- an eternity in Hollywood -- and are still going strong. Rumors have claimed the key to that success is an open relationship.

In an interview with HuffPost Live, 41-year-old Jada addressed speculation that she and Will have an open marriage.

"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 told HuffPost Live's Marc Lamont Hill. "Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. 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. Or vice versa."

The couple married in a small ceremony in 1997 after meeting on the set of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Talk of their open marriage began back in 2008, when tabloids claimed the "I Am Legend" star said his wife could be with another man if she felt she needed to.

Rumors that Jada cheated with Marc Anthony and that she and Will were headed for divorce proved false.

But that doesn't mean Jada isn't honest about the struggles couples, famous or not, confront. She counts a foundation of friendship as an essential component of her and Will's bond.

"I don't think it's easy to be married to anyone," she told Hill. "I think that you have to go into a relationship knowing -- especially when you're dedicating yourself to someone for the rest of your life -- this is a life partnership ... He's my best friend. He's been by my side through some of the most difficult parts of my life. And so that's something you can never take away."

Will has also revealed why his love and admiration for Jada has remained steady.

"She is just absolutely hardcore, like she absolutely is unfazed by the weight and the pressures of life," he told People in December. "She is so calm and cool and easy in any situation. She can bear anything, and I just love that about her."