Sheree Zampino was completely shocked when she saw her ex-husband Will Smith punch Chris Rock in the face at the 2022 Oscars.
“It was one of those moments where I froze,” the 54-year-old star of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” told Us Weekly Monday. “The first thing you do is try to understand it in the [moment]. And if it doesn’t make sense at the moment… we didn’t even really have time. I didn’t even deal with it.”
Although Zampino said she still struggles to “get it,” she wants to see the two stars come together in the spirit of forgiveness, saying it would be a “powerful” moment.
“If Chris and Will can come together and publicly heal and forgive each other, do you know how many people that’s going to help and free? So I see the opportunity,” she says.
Moments after the incident aired, Zampino was reportedly “kicked out” from the Academy Awards viewing party she attended with other “housewives.”
Smith, 53, recently issued a public apology to Rock, 57, for the slap heard around the world in a YouTube video.
“I’ll tell you, Chris, I apologize. My behavior was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you want to talk,” said the Oscar winner.
The ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ actor also revealed in the five-minute video that the ‘Grown Ups’ star is ‘not ready to talk’, so Zampino’s wish for the two to get together may not happen for a while.
Even after all the disagreement after the immediately infamous blow, Zampino said her ex-husband is doing “great”.
“I think the reason he is so successful is because he did it with a lot of dignity, he did it with a lot of grace,” she told the magazine. “It always works out with Will.”
Smith and Zampino were married from 1992 to 1995 and share a 29-year-old son, Trey. After their divorce, the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alum married Jada Pinkett Smith in 1997 and had two more children, Jaden, 24, and Willow, 21.
Zampino has been a guest on “RHOBH” several times over the years, but joined the show as “friend of” Garcelle Beauvais for season 12.
The Bravolebrity recently revealed that she once feuded with Smith and Pinkett Smith, 50, over co-parenting Trey and adjusting to a blended family.
She said in David Yontef’s podcast “Behind the Velvet Rope” that “three different dynamics, three different personalities and [three] different belief systems” didn’t make it easy for her, especially since Trey was only 5 years old when her ex married the “Girls Trip” star.
Zampino did say that Pinkett Smith always treated her son well.
“I’m grateful that we were all on the same frequency and on the same page to really want to do that, which is probably why we’re being called together in this space,” she said.