“You got three different dynamics, three different personalities and different belief systems, different way of doing things.”
Sheree Zampino is getting real about co-parenting with ex-husband Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
While appearing on Monday’s episode of the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, who appears as a “Friend Of” on the series, opened up about co-parenting son Trey, now 29, with Will, in addition to the “different dynamics” between herself, Will and Jada.
Sheree, 54, and Will, 50, married in 1992 and welcomed their son Trey that year. They later divorced in 1994. Meanwhile, Will and Jada, 50, tied the knot in 1997, and share two children together: Jaden, 24, and Willow, 21.
On the podcast, host David Yontef asked Sheree how she’s been able to maintain close relationships with Will, Jada and their family over the years, pointing out how the Bravo star was featured on the premiere episode of Jada’s “Red Table Talk.”
“How does that happen? It’s so hard,” the podcast host said of Sheree’s good co-parenting relationship with the couple, to which Sheree replied, “I’m not gonna say that it’s easy. I think early on — like from the beginning — I learned this from my mother: My heart is always for my child. My child comes first. He really does. He comes first so it’s not about me anymore.”
She continued, “So how do we do this where we honor [the kids] and we put them first and we don’t deprive them of any good thing — good thing being the relationship they have with each other, the relationship they have with me, the relationship my son has with Jada.”
“We were just able to go there and I’m grateful for it,” she added. “I can’t really give details as to why but I’m grateful that we were kind of all the same frequency and the same page to really want to do that which is probably why we are called to one another in this space.”
Although Sheree noted that it’s not always easy, she said that “when you have a mutual respect, it becomes easier.” She added, “With Jada, it was like, as long as she treats [Trey] well, we’re good. We’re good. And she’s treated him well and she’s loved him.”
However, the entrepreneur revealed that she, Will and Jada still have “bumped heads” in the past.
“You got three different dynamics, three different personalities and different belief systems, different way of doing things,” she said. “And there were times we have bumped heads and it hasn’t been pretty. But listen, we get back on that horse and we press on. We do what we have to do because again, at the end of the day, it’s about the kids. We have a responsibility to them.”
Meanwhile, Yontef brought up how Sheree was in attendance at the 2022 Oscars, during which Will now-infamously slapped Chris Rock. “I’m not talking to you about this David,” Sheree said with a laugh, before Yontef praised “King Richard,” the film in which Will won an Oscar for Best Actor. Sheree agreed, calling the movie “incredible.”
The Whoop Ash founder also shared her thoughts on Will and Jada tuning into “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Sheree was featured as a guest on Seasons 10 and 11 of “RHOBH,” before becoming a “Friend of” the Housewives for Season 12, which is currently airing.
“I would hope they don’t [watch], but you never know. You never know,” Sheree said.
As for whether she’d reach out to them to watch the show, she jokingly added, “I don’t know how I feel about sending a text to Will and Jada saying, ‘I’m gonna be on the show about four minutes, can you watch the whole 44? I don’t feel called to do that.'”
