In the most recent edition of Red Table Talk which dropped on Wednesday, Jada Pinkett Smith‘s guest was none other than her husband’s ex-wife Sheree Zampino and the conversation, as per usual for the show, was awkward, worthwhile, and revealed something interesting.
The Fresh Prince, not to be confused with Prince Harry, married Sheree in 1992 but they divorced in 1995. They had a son together named Willard Carroll “Trey” Smith III in 1992. Then, Will married Jada Pinkett in 1997.
Obviously, this meant that Jada and Sheree had to somehow get along if Will and Sheree’s son was to benefit from having both of his birth parents in his life. This is where things understandably got messy. Verbal altercations, disagreements, and animosity became themes for Jada and Sheree’s relationship with each other.
“Sometimes,” Jada says now about it, “we had to fake it to make it. For me, it was really about maturity.”
Pinkett Smith admitted that she thought once Sheree and Will were divorced that she was done with Sheree, saying, “Oh, guess what. It ain’t ever done. That was my biggest misconception, in that this woman is a part of this family. It’s like not only taking on Trey (Will and Sheree’s son) but Sheree was coming along too as part of the package.”
The maturity that Smith was referring to earlier is certainly in place now as she told Sheree during the episode, “I’m imagining I definitely took some forgiveness on your part because I can remember some times that I really crossed the line.”
They recounted a time when Sheree dropped Trey off at Will’s house and Jada told her, “Listen, we gotta talk about his behavior.” Zampino responded, “Go get his daddy, please.”
That was nothing compared to verbal fisticuffs that escalated so much that Will Smith had to step in. Thank goodness Chris Rock wasn’t there.
Jada said about that incident, “Will Smith let me have it. His take was, ‘That is Trey’s mother and that’s just not your place!”
The next time the ladies saw each other, Jada apologized and they both made sure to make an effort to get along and make things work.
Zampino now states that she and Jada had to really learn how to be friends with each other. Jada added, “Trying to have a blended family and not really having a blueprint of that — we really had to figure it out along the way.”
It certainly can be said now that they have indeed figured it out. Zampino can currently be seen on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.