Jodie Turner-Smith filed to divorce ex-husband Joshua Jackson less than a year ago, but she’s wishing him the best — even in his romantic life.
The “Queen & Slim” and “The Acolyte” star says she is rooting for Jackson’s relationship with Oscar winner actor Lupita Nyong’o, telling the Cut in an interview published Friday, “good for them.” After Turner-Smith filed her petition for divorce in October, Jackson and Nyong’o sparked dating speculation in December as paparazzi published photos of the two in public together.
Weeks after news of Turner-Smith’s divorce petition broke, Nyong’o revealed on Instagram she had broken up with TV personality Selema Masekela amid allegations of “deception” and “heartbreak.” In December, Jackson and Nyong’o were seen holding hands in Joshua Tree and grocery shopping at an Erewhon. Earlier this year, paparazzi saw the duo kissing by a beach during their vacation in Mexico.
Turner-Smith, 37, and Jackson, 46, secretly wed in August 2019 and share one child, born in April 2020. Four-year-old daughter Juno Rose Diana Jackson is central to Turner-Smith’s openness to Jackson’s romance with Nyong’o, the “After Yang” actor explained.
“We need happiness in order to peacefully co-parent. I’m trying to get us to the Gwyneth [Paltrow] and Chris Martin level,” she told the Cut. “I truly hope they’re happy and that it benefits us as a family.”
In 2019, Turner-Smith broke out with a titular role in Lena Waithe‘s and Melina Matsoukas’ ”Queen & Slim,” appearing as Queen opposite “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya’s Slim. Her major debut moment came as multiple tabloids identified Turner-Smith — even at the film’s premiere — simply as Jackson’s “girlfriend.”
“It was taking away from a moment that I needed to have on my own,” she told the Cut.
She added: “It opened up a very painful conversation to the world about who I was with and how right or wrong it was to be with that person. And when you’re pregnant, it’s like the most vulnerable time of your life.”
Since “Queen & Slim,” Turner-Smith has appeared in several film and TV projects, including Kogonada’s “After Yang” alongside Colin Farrell, Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise”and several episodes of Netflix’s “Sex Education.” Most recently she appears in the latest Star Wars spinoff series “The Acolyte.”
For Turner-Smith, divorce isn’t a failure, she said in a February interview with the Times of London. Instead, it’s a moment to move forward.
“The bravest thing in the world is to recognize when something’s not working and to make a move, and I always want to set that kind of example for my daughter,” she said.
