This is the most traumatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. Chris Harrison coming to you today with a very special playbook. It is special because of my guest LZ is not with me today, but I have Meredith Marks and the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City joining me to open up today's playbook.
First of all, it's so good to have you here.
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
I appreciate it.
We did a big interview and by the way, if you did not listen to the Meredith Marks interview, go back check it out. It's There was a couple days before we jumped on this one, but I wanted to keep you on to do a playbook because this story broke that It just came out about Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith and they announced that they have been separated since twenty sixteen, So, if my math is correct, seven years that they've been a part that know, they
didn't tell anybody they did, Nobody knew. We've seen them together, but technically they've been apart. Kind of a huge revelation.
Yeah, I mean big revelation. I can understand it. It's very relatable for me, you know, not all that different from what Seth and I went through.
So you and Seth were separated living separately or do you all stay together?
Well, so we were separated.
On and off over you know a period of years, and at times we lived together, at times we lived separately, but we didn't really live separately until the tail end because nobody knew we were separate. Our children didn't know we're except nobody.
Your kids didn't know.
They did not know.
Wow, how did you guys keep that alive and keep it?
I think that it actually caused an immense amount of marital discord. And I don't advise anyone else necessarily doing it. I understand why it was, you know, a choice that I made. I felt like our children were very close to being out of the house, and you know, I came from a divorce family and I knew how hard that was for me, and I didn't want them to go through that. So I felt like, well, it's not
going to be that long. Let's just you know, band aid this until they leave and then we'll see what happens.
And probably not the best way to do things, but well.
I don't know.
Me, I can kind of relate in that, you know, when I was going through my divorce. We didn't tell. My kids were young too, so when you tell them, it's not like you could bring them in as adults and go, hey, guys, mom and dad are kind of working on stuff. It's neither you are. You aren't at that age, so we kind of kept it quiet. We didn't tell anybody because again, we didn't want the press. That's always the difficult thing too, is life is hard
enough and these situations are hard enough. And I imagine for Will and Jada that was part of it as well. They are superstars, like worldwide, global superstars. If you let the world in on that, it's a show.
Oh I think that that could have easily been the end right death nail.
Yeah, it's over.
And so on a much smaller scale, you and I can kind of relate to that.
At least.
I didn't want anyone to know I was going through and it was really And it's funny when things come up. I remember ABC was I forget who it was was doing like a Valentine special or whatever. It's like, hey, we want you to come and talk about love and how it and making it work in Hollywood, And I'm like, yeah, can I not do that special now right now, I'm on the verge of signing divorce papers. And so for a long time nobody knew. And I remember we were
about to announce it. I think we released it to People magazine. I was heading to d Brevnik, Croatia for Emily Maynard season of The Bacheorette, and I was taking the kid and so I said, look, let's drop it on a Friday. It's where we always dump our bad news on a Friday. And I was on a plane. I was taking the kids out of the country, so we weren't going to face anything, and my ex could leave and she could go to Dallas and be with her sister, and so we almost pulled off the ultimate caper.
And then we got a call from the publicist and they said, hey, whatever magazine is hearing that you and you're you know, significant other getting a divorce and is this true? And I was like, well, yeah, it's coming out in a couple hours. And I thought I was going to get out of town. But and so nobody knew and people were just flummox just flabbergas.
They had no idea. And so you guys went through the same thing.
Yeah, I mean, it's well, we weren't television when we went through the large majority of our separation. You know, that was a tail end during season one, so it was a lot more private and a lot easier to keep it private, right, But yeah, it's so it's definitely different because I was not in the public lights.
So that timeline is really interesting. So you entered into the show separated. Technically, y'all weren't quite back together. Did you know you were going to do?
Were separated?
And during that first season we actually like separated and reconnected more than once, like we had. That was a very tough time for us, and we kept going in and out and we kept like wanting to be together but not being able to set aside the hostility and the anger and all of that to be able to have like positive communities.
To do the passionate hookups and then the breakups. The passionate hookups like you kind of needed the comfort because you did love each other deep down, and so you'd have these passionate, hot hookups and then when reality set in and it wasn't so sexy, you like, oh, I'm still kind of pissed.
And resentful, And yeah, I mean that's very typical.
You know. It's it's the it's like hot and cold, but it's it's all fueled with emotion.
Yeah, you know, and it's all very heavy.
You seek that comfort and you go back to it.
Yeah, because at the end of the day, Soath and I always, you know, truly loved each other and still do, you know.
But but Bravo had no idea. So Bravo thought you were just happily married.
And no, no, no, no, no, they knew.
They didn't know until until we got very close to filming, because prior to that we were like we didn't know where we would land, and we were just we didn't tell anyone. And then we're like, well, we're we're on a reality show. I guess it's time to speak up.
It seems like a great it seems like a great idea.
We are in the middle of hell, let's get on a reality show and like break this thing up.
I mean, it's crazy though, because for us it was a huge positive. It was like, you know, I do honestly think, like everything else in life, you get back what you put in, and if you go in with a lot of negativity, you're going to get a lot of negativity back. If you go in trying to make the best of anything and get positive results back from something, you'll get positive stuff. You know.
The Will and Jada of it all is very interesting. For seven years, so clearly they are just they're living their lives. They're off living their lives, and they are such megastars that I mean, it's odd. So Will Smith and I were the member of the same we're members of the same country club. So I actually saw Will and Jada not a ton, but quite a bit. They'd be out playing golf. They would sneak out in the
afternoons evenings and everyone would leave them alone. And I saw them in the parking lot a lot, and they would be coming and going, and so they seemed, you know, very happy together. They spend time together. They obviously have children together. So I think I can kind of see they've just come to terms of, Look, we're not meant for each other. We're going to go our separate ways, but we're always going to be intertwined.
Yeah, I mean, but you know, they during those years, it may have been somewhat of what you were saying cold and maybe they were together at times and not together at others, I don't. I find it hard to believe that they were just completely separated for seven years silently like that. I don't get what the point of that would be, Like you have to be kind of figuring it out, or why wouldn't you just be public about it? Right?
Well?
And my thing and again, I'll take them out of it. I'm just thinking of myself and trying to relate this to all of us in the real world. And my thought is, you're living in purgatory. And that's if I had a friend who was saying this, I would say, you're not living.
You think you are.
You think you're taking care of the kids, you're thinking you're doing what's better, but you're not. If you're not happy, you're not being fulfilled. There's no chance you're finding love because you're tied into this thing still. And I would say, either you know, do it or don't. I agree.
I think that that's living in purgatory is a very good analogy. I think that it's like very I mean, I know for me, I just was very numb. I shut down my emotions and that was my way of handling it. And when they come back, they come back in full force, and then of course.
I'm on reality TV for that part.
Thank god.
Mount Vesuvius, Meredith, Mount Vesuvius, Mount Meredith. Yeah, it's it is a very interesting thing to go through and how we all act. You said, you shut down. Some people get very emotional and there's no perfect way to do it. Many, many couples, a lot of people listening go through it.
You're not alone, like.
You're just it's hard. Love is hard, Relationships are hard. When you throw kids in, i'd be interested now that your kids are older, have they opened up and said, maybe we didn't know, but we kind of knew, like the because kids are smart, they're savvy.
So when our kids.
You know, found out about our separation, or when we told them, I guess I should say they didn't find out.
We told them, Yeah, they had.
They were all adults, and their reaction was kind of like, well, we just want you guys to be happy, whatever that means, and if that means you're not together, that's fine. Do what you need for yourself. So they were very mature about it, you know, more so than I was.
You look fantastic, thank you.
I love the Sheik Denim crushing it.
I would expect.
Nothing less of Meredith Marks from something exciting. Thank you for opening up the playbook with me, Thank you for joining me this week. Of course, you can see Meredith out Meredith on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and if you can't get enough of Meredith like me new podcast with your husband Seth, which.
Is hanging by a thread with Seth and Meredith.
Marks, as we all are. We're all hanging by a thread. We're just doing the best we can everybody, and that's all we can do. But be kind, be graceful, have some love, take care of yourself and take care of each other. And thank you so much for listening. Always appreciate it, and we'll do it again next time. Of course, we have a lot more to talk about.
Thanks for listening.
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