Who is Will Smith without Jada Pinkett Smith , and who were they before each other?
Well, we know who Jada wasn’t — Will’s first wife.
Missed introductions, fate and scandal are just a few things we are going to dive into
with Sheree Zampino and Will Smith.
The pair have quite the meet-cute story, but it wasn’t supposed to be theirs, it was
supposed to be the day Jada and Will met.
Will Smith is one of the most well-known actors in the world.
He’s known for his roles in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air , Men In Black and The Pursuit
Of Happiness.
He is also known for being humiliated in front of the world when his current wife, Jada,
told him about an affair she had while being married to the actor, as well as the Oscar
scandal where he slapped Chris Rock on international TV.
But before he became such a Hollywood success, he also went through a messy divorce with
Sheree Zampino.
She is a Canadian fashion designer, entrepreneur, and actress.
Will’s introduction to Sheree began with his infatuation to Jada.
He saw her in an episode of A Different World and instantly knew she was who he wanted to
be with.
So, he asked his co-star Alfonso Ribeiro to arrange for him to go to the set and watch
a taping in order to meet Pinkett.
Once there, it happened to be the same day that Sheree was visiting a good friend of
hers and Will’s, writer Orlando Jones.
He ironically also meant to be the same person that was supposed to introduce Pinkett and
the Fresh Prince actor.
While waiting on the side-lines, Smith overheard a conversation between Zampino and her friend.
“Her name is Sheree Zampino.
She is from New York.
Not real New York – Schenectady near Albany , dam near Canada,” he wrote about the day
they met in his memoir.
He walked over to her and began poking fun at her saying she was forbidden to say she
is from New York when she is not.
He said he would give her a pass for that day because they were just meeting.
The comedian had Zampino laughing so much that they had to roll tape again because she
was being too loud for the actors on set to continue.
He put Sheree into an uncomfortable position as the bell rang to signal the audience to
settle down.
She hadn’t quite pulled herself back together yet and Smith leaned into her ear with more
jokes about why she cannot say she is from New York and said, “It’s misleading.
If you tell people you’re from New York, they’re thinking the Bronx, Brooklyn and
they’re going to think you’re cool.
Then they find out you’re from Schenectady?”
Sheree begged for him to be quiet because she was practically choking with laughter,
but Will didn’t.
She held it together and A Different World got their scene, no thanks to Smith.
The two of them left before the show was even over.
They laughed all the way through dinner, all the way through fall, and three months later
in 1992, they were married.
Things were good for the couple for a while and Will recalled how he made her laugh and
how she made him laugh endlessly.
In their first couple months of marriage, they had their son, Trey Smith.
But things got complicated for the young couple not long after they got married.
There were many factors that led to their eventual divorce and the first was ironically
Jada.
Will and Jada met on the set of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and in 1993 they co-starred
in the film Six Degrees Of Separation.
It was the combination of method acting, a mutual attraction and the fact that Will was
going to meet Jada to start a romantic relationship the day that he met Sheree, that added to
Will falling for her.
After the filming wrapped, the actor, his wife and their child moved back to LA.
Their marriage was now off to a rocky start because he found himself desperately yearning
to see and speak to Jada.
It is bizarre how he recalls this experience in his memoir as he refers to himself by his
character’s name in the film and Jada as her character’s name from the film.
How real could their love really have been if he saw them both as fictional characters?
Will said that towards the end of his first marriage he had a revelation that he was with
the wrong woman.
He broke down in tears in a restaurant bathroom whilst on a date with Sheree over his feelings
for Jada that he couldn't act upon.
Smith and Pinkett did start dating while he was still married to Zampino, even though
they never physically acted on anything.
Jada apparently still regrets their relationship starting as an affair.
Although divorce wasn’t an option for Will because he didn’t believe in it, Sheree
didn’t share the same sentiments, so she filed for it on Valentine’s Day 1995.
There were many reasons for that.
She felt her and Will were drifting apart as he was becoming a big star and he didn’t
have the capacity to give her what she needed.
She no longer felt like they were a team with her son’s father.
Sheree also simply fell out of love with Will, but that’s probably because he was giving
all the attention to another woman.
"Our marriage ended because we were so young.
It's just a lot of responsibility.
Marriage is not easy.
Especially at that age.
I left because I was unhappy.
It's really that simple,” she said.
Their divorce turned into a messy custody battle over their son Trey.
In an emotional interview on Red Table Talk, Will spoke on his divorce from Sheree, saying,
“Divorce was the worst thing in my adult life, divorce was the ultimate failure for
me.
I've been hurt a lot in my adult life, but I don't think anything touches the failure
of getting divorced from my then two-year-old son's mother.”
This same interview saw Will break down in tears as he recalled the events.
Sheree had a young marriage of 2 years, a 2-year-old son and a husband who was in love
with another woman.
We can only imagine how unsettling this experience must have been for her, to say the least.
Jada and Will were married in 1997, just 2 years after his divorce and she was three-months
pregnant with their son Jaden at the time.
Even though they have had a tumultuous relationship, including an "entanglement" with rapper August
Alisino, the Smiths seem stronger than ever and have been incredibly open about their
relationship in order to heal, strengthen and help others.
Zampino moved on from Smith, and in 2012 she married a former NFL player turned pastor,
Terrell Fletcher . After just two years of marriage, she filed for divorce citing irreconcilable
differences.
She seems to be a woman who knows what she wants in a marriage and won’t settle for
anything less.
Sheree opened up about what it was like living with the label of Will Smith’s ex-wife.
"It could be worse.
I could be connected to Charles Manson," she said.
She went on to say it is just a part of her history and she’s not behind anybody or
somebody’s shadow.
Will and Sheree’s son, Trey, is also an actor.
Although, he was very young when his parents’ parted ways, the divorce and the marriage
to Jada really affected his relationship with his dad.
Smith says he struggled for years to build a solid foundation because Trey felt betrayed
and abandoned.
They eventually recovered and restored a loving relationship.
Not only have they all healed from the messy divorce, they now boast a strong and happy
blended family.
Sheree was even there at the 2022 Oscars awards to celebrate her ex-husband receiving his
first ever Oscar.
She made a post on Instagram saying, “Epic night!
Congratulations again – when one wins, we all win!
Family first!
Will you are more than deserving.”
Their blended family has shown it is possible to co-parent with love for your child, and
for your ex, as well as bring two families together.
Jaden and Willow have a close relationship with Sheree, and Trey refers to Jada as his
bonus mom.
The two families even celebrate birthdays, Christmases, and Easters together.
They also go on holidays together!
Jada said that she isn’t always present on vacations that Will & Sheree take with
Trey because she thinks it’s important that Trey sees positive interactions with his parents
alone.
“If I’m going to love Trey, there is an aspect of Sheree that I have to embrace and
have to love as well,” she said.
The most beautiful thing about this blended family is that Zampino and Pinkett Smith get
along amazingly.
It wasn’t always like that, though.
Sheree was Jada’s first guest ever in her series Red Table Talk.
She spoke about the struggles she had when Will left, and how they had to learn to co-parent
Trey with Jada in the picture.
They recalled a situation where Sheree had called looking to speak to her then 3-year-old
son and Jada answered the phone.
Pinkett said she didn’t like Sheree’s tone and hung up, and when Zampino called
back, she was furious and said, “Bitch, you’re living in a house I picked out.”
Jada’s response?
“It’s my house now.”
Ouch!
Will apparently got involved and had a few stern words with Pinkett saying, “She is
Trey’s mother, you cannot speak to her like that, it’s not your place.”
Double ouch!
The women laughed about the situation and the interview was an emotional one that ended
with Sheree saying, "On this side of things, my son could not have a better bonus mom."
"Thank you," Jada replied, still tearful from their earlier discussion.
"No," said Sheree.
"Thank you."
Pinkett Smith also admitted to being insensitive and inconsiderate during those years because
she didn’t understand divorce, never mind divorce with a young child involved.
Zampino said the hardest part of their relationship was when Will wanted to introduce Jada to
Trey.
In later years, she spoke on blended families saying, “You have to be secured and settled
in the fact that no one can replace you as a mom – your position is solid”
Sheree and Will have set new standards for co-parenting and family dynamics.
Zampino is incredibly close with all the Smiths and has always made sure her son has a strong
relationship with Will and the children he has with Jada.
Will, Sheree, and their son all have a strong belief in "family first".
Stay tuned to see what these incredible exes do next!