Jada Pinkett Smith is still besotted with Will Smith

Los Angeles - Jada Pinkett Smith says Will Smith is much more than just her husband.

The 42-year-old actress, who has daughter Willow, 13, and son Jaden, 16, with the actor, admits she is "ecstatic" about the way their 17-year marriage has evolved.

She told Net-A-Porter's The Edit magazine: "We used to have all these rules, but as you go on in your relationship, you just get into a flow."

She added: "Will, to me, encompasses everything. It's almost as if calling him 'my husband' is too small of a word for what he means in my life... I think I had a very stuck idea of what a husband looks like, what a wife should be.

"Once I broke all of that, a whole new world opened for me and man, oh, man, I got to see him in all his glory. And so that's what it's evolved into. And I'm just ecstatic about it."

Pinkett-Smith doesn't get upset by rumours she and the Bad Boys star, 45, have an open marriage. She explained: "The coping technique is knowing what the truth is. When you know that what's going on in your house is so the opposite of what's being said, and you also know that when there's mystery."

She added: "People fill in the gaps, that's okay. And then you look back at it and look at how creative people can be, and it's kind of entertaining. we can laugh because it's so ridiculous. But I get it. I don't take it personally."

The Madagascar star is very protective over her children, but believes trust is the key to being a good parent.

She said: "I want my kids to be happy and I want them to be themselves. I was saying to a friend the other day, 'Remember, our kids are not us.' They're not. Sometimes we're trying to fix things that happened to us or projecting onto them, and that's a terrible, terrible trap."

READ THIS NEXT: It's a boy for Kelly Rowland!

For more celeb news join Channel24 on Facebook and follow Channel24 on Twitter.