Will Smith is sticking by his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, through the thick and thin.
Speaking with ET’s Kevin Frazier on Wednesday from a screening of Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the 55-year-old actor listed of his spouse of 26 years as one of the few people he would consider to be a “ride or die” in his life, among friends like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribiero.
“It’s funny, I was just talking about this, I have always been blessed that there has never been a time in my life when I didn’t look to the side and have a ride or die right there,” the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star told ET.
He added, “Jada is one of the most gangsta ride-or-die’s I’ve ever had.”
The sweet nod to his partner comes two months after they last were photographed together, celebrating Easter with their family after what can only be described as a tumultuous few months — and years — for the parents of Willow and Jaden. Publicity around the couple has slowed down greatly since Jada shared in October that, in 2016, she and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star privately decided to separate.
Since then, the couple have kept private, only emerging to promote their respective projects, which — for Smith — means his upcoming film.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die follows the tried-and-true formula kicked off in its first film: Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) pull all kinds of hijinks as hardboiled detectives working for the Miami Police Department.
As for the fourth installment in the beloved Bad Boys franchise, the actor says that fans who love the classic Mike and Marcus banter are in for some new surprises as well as an exciting sequel overall as they “expanded the Bad Boys universe.”
“We took an aggressive shot with this movie, we tried to keep it exciting — we wanted to be [a] full-on popcorn movie but we wanted it to grow with the characters,” he said of the film. “Not try to make the 25-year-old version of the movie — no, these dudes make it be age-appropriate.”
To the King Richard star, that means the concept of giving audience members more characters to love (and hate) and a story that works not only as a follow-up to the previous three films but as its own concept, entirely.
“There are multiple scenes where you will cheer for multiple characters,” he shared, adding, “It’s Mike and Marcus just like you love them but we’ve expanded and there’s more room for more cast and it’s open and, you know, people are smashing.”
One of those new cast members is comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish, who the comedic actor described as a “machine” who was always on and ready with another joke or an adlib to try and level up a scene.
“Tiffany is a comedian and it’s a whole different way their minds work,” Smith said.”Tiffany just was saying something different on every single take, right? And I can’t, I so admire that, I can’t do that. I can’t adlib like that. A new scene, a new joke, a new idea literally every time the camera rolls.”
The film also stars Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd and Tasha Smith.
Watch the trailer for Bad Boys: Ride or Die in the player below:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is in theaters on June 7.
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