Originally appeared on E! Online
Jodie Turner-Smith is staying positive when it comes to her ex.
The Queen & Slim star, who split from Joshua Jackson in 2023 after four years of marriage, is sharing her thoughts on the Dawson’s Creek alum’s romance with Lupita Nyong’o.
“Good for them,” Jodie told The Cut in an interview published June 14. “We need happiness in order to peacefully co-parent.”
And as she and Joshua, 46, who are parents to daughter Juno, 4, navigate this next chapter, she already has an idea of which former couple she hopes to emulate.
“I’m trying to get us to the Gwyneth [Paltrow] and Chris Martin level,” the 37-year-old joked, before adding of Josh and Lupita, “I truly hope they’re happy and that it benefits us as a family.”
After all, the toddler is at the forefront of how she’s approaching her co-parenting journey with the Dr. Death actor.
“I just have to do everything that I can to set Juno up to win,” she added, “and to peacefully co-parent with someone whom I once loved very, very much.”
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Joshua and Lupita, 41, first sparked romance rumors in October of last year when they were spotted together at a Janelle Monae. In March the couple were seen packing on the PDA in Mexico as they celebrated Lupita’s birthday, where an eyewitness said, “They looked madly in love, like they just couldn’t get enough of one another.”
As for Jodie, in the months since the breakups she’s focused on life as a single mom and her career, including her new Star Wars show The Acolyte. But as she forges ahead in her acting career, she also reflected on the complications on her arrival in Hollywood coinciding with a high-profile romance.
And while she looks back at her romance with Joshua fondly, she points out that the complicated feelings she has about her identity in Hollywood were so acutely tied to his—especially given the pair, who were expecting their daughter, made their red carpet debut at a premiere for her very first starring role.
“It all came from a really innocent place,” she explained of the 2019 Queen & Slim event. “I didn’t understand how sinister that could end up being for me. It was taking away from a moment that I needed to have on my own.”
And for Jodie, that moment “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.”
In fact, since their split, Jodie has been consciously looking for ways to start over for herself—something she did quite literally with her Burberry gown at the 2024 Met Gala in May.
“The dress Daniel Lee designed for me, full of English flowers, was deliberately bridal,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “White, representing a rebirth. A clean start. A recommitment to the most important relationship I will ever have, the relationship from which all others grow: my relationship with myself.”
She added, “It is through loving and honoring myself that I am able to love and honor my daughter, and teach her to do the same.”
For a look back at Jodie and Joshua’s relationship, keep reading.
Newlyweds
Basking in Blue
Met Gala Magic
After-Party Fun
True Coordination
Queen of the Night
Pretty in Pink
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