How can a movie about male strippers be helpful to a marriage? Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith says that being on the set of the new movie “Magic Mike XXL” the sequel to the hit movie “Magic Mike” helped her gain some new perspective about her own marriage.
“It really taught me how to be more playful with my husband,” she says of Will Smith, her husband of 18 years.
On set, Pinkett Smith says she tried to fall back and not get in the way of the antics of the male-dominated cast. A friend had told her that women don’t know how to share space, that they dominate space. She took it to heart.
MUST READ: 7 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Married
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“I really felt like this was a space for bro-time,” she said in a recent interview. “I tried to be respectful of that and I really enjoyed watching the men. It was so much fun to see and to realize men really need boy time.”
Co-star Channing Tatum, seated nearby, chimed in to agree. He brought up a conversation with a female friend who told him that when women get together with their girlfriends, they want to talk about life. About careers, kids, relationships, everything.
“Guys don’t do that at all. We do the opposite. We do everything but…
…talk about that,” said Tatum. “We create another little world. It’s like a pressure release. … Men are just like monkeys beating on the walls of the cage.”
But, Pinkett Smith said she learned that there can be a balance.
Normally, she said, she’d just default to sitting back and watch her husband play.
“He’s a silly man all day long. He’s the guy who hides behind the door and jumps out. He’s that guy. All day,” she said, laughing. “He’s just a big freaking kid. I always play the role of like, ‘OK, you be the kid. OK, that’s cute.’”
But after “Magic Mike,” Pinkett Smith says she’s “learned to enjoy that playfulness in him much more and participate in it versus, like, tolerate it.”
In a recent survey, over 40% of couples over the age of 28 who have been together over 3 years, confessed that they have had times where they didn’t know how to have fun in their relationship. Here’s 3 ways you can bring back the FUN in yours too:
1. Don’t Listen – we know that this goes contrary to what you’ve always heard, but take a look at it in a different way. When your mate gets mad at something you deem as “little” or “petty” don’t listen to the ranting and raving. Does it really warrant you talking back? Just to be heard? Don’t listen to how someone says it, listen to what they are saying.
2. Say Yes – Most of the times in relationships that have been going for awhile, people get comfortable and say “no” a lot because they know their mate. But to have some unexpected fun, say “yes” to what your mate wants once in awhile. Trust me, they’ll smile.
3. Remember – Simply remember the good times. Go back and look at pictures. Read old cards. Think of the good times. Then try to recreate those same memories with a new twist.
