Now in the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Sheree Zampino recognizes that it’s easier being a Hollywood ex—her first husband is actor Will Smith—than being famous herself.
Appearing as a “friend” on “RHOBH,” which is now airing, the 54-year-old has faced intense scrutiny. Throughout Season 12, she had a lot of laughs with her best longtime cast member Garcelle Beauvais, who threw Zampino’s name into the mix when producers were looking for a fresh face to the show.
For her first season of “RHOBH,” Sheree was very comfortable in the friend zone.
“As a friend, I literally dip my toe in the deep end,” she told Vidak For Congress. “It’s cute now. You tell me where the party is, and I show up and we have fun.”
But there’s been some drama – it’s ‘Real Housewives’ after all.
Like when Garcelle revealed on camera that she’d dated Smith in the past, which was news to Zampino.
“It was funny when she told me,” Sheree said. “Look, she thinks she’s smooth. She told me in front of the camera. I was like, ‘Okay, that’s what we do.’ But it’s all right. It was after Will and I divorced, and it is what it is. Garcelle and I didn’t even know each other yet.”
While this revelation didn’t upset her, she has also faced negative attention and snide comments on social media since she appeared on “RHOBH.” This led to an ‘a-ha’ moment that made her realize that Smith had been harassed over the years and…
the sacrifices he made for his career and his family.
“Will has been performing since he was 16,” she said. “And he does it with such love, grace and joy. He is always there for his fans. They want to take a picture; he takes a picture. He signs autographs. He makes a connection. He likes people. He never complains.”
She recalls a disturbing moment when they were dating in the early ’90s, and how calm her then-rapper beau remained despite being slapped with money while performing with DJ Jazzy Jeff at a showcase.
“The pennies hit him in the head and chest and he didn’t miss a beat,” recalls Zampino. “I was so heated backstage, but he never mentioned it. So I’ve seen him take the punches literally. He never complains. I ride with him. I ride with him! I would have exploded a long time ago.”
When Smith finally blew up, it was, of course, on the most public forum imaginable: At the Oscars in March, the Best Actor nominee — and eventual winner that night for “King Richard — stormed onto the stage and punched Chris Rock after the comedian made an unkind
joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her bald appearance. (The actress suffers from alopecia, which Rock claims he didn’t know about.)
“It was a bit surreal,” Zampino said of the blow, which she saw on TV at a viewing party with Smith’s extended family. “I thought it was a skit at first, but when I realized it was real, I thought, ‘I’m not even going to deal with this because it’s his night.’
“When he came along, we supported him and loved him. The whole situation was strange to me because Will is always in control and merciful. You don’t see him getting angry very often.”
She thinks it might be time for the world to move on. “He has apologized and he has taken responsibility for it,” Zampino added. “I don’t know what happened at that moment. I wouldn’t ask. If he wants to share something, he can. But he has a family that loves him, drives for him and supports him. He can be human.”
The two met in 1991 during a taping of the NBC show “A Different World.” Zampino was there to support one of the show’s writers, stand-up comedian Orlando Jones, whom she was seeing at the time.
She sat next to Smith and they started talking, while he joked and made her laugh.
“He was the fresh prince!” she remembered. “The show [‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’] was in its first season. I’ve never been starstruck. That’s something that never really turned me on.
“But two days later my phone rang – my landline!” It was Smith. They became phone friends and started dating the following year, and they got married shortly after. Their son, Willard Carroll “Trey” Smith III, was born in November 1992.
Though the marriage didn’t last, their commitment to raising Trey, now 29, harmoniously did.
“When Will and I decided to go our separate ways, it shifted to Trey,” Zampino said. “What should we do to make him feel safe, loved and secure?”
Luckily, Sheree had a great co-parenting role model, her mother. Her parents were an interracial couple (African American and Italian) and despite having two children together, they never married. Years later, her father, a taekwondo master in Schenectady, NY, married another woman and had a son, whom Sheree’s mother welcomed into the family.
“My mother never responded to Richard, my half-brother,” Zampino said. “She loved him because she understood what it was like for her children to be shunned and cast aside. And she would never do that to another child.”
That philosophy guided Zampino on her own co-parenting journey with Smith, including the first time he introduced Trey to Jada.
“When Trey got home, I said, ‘You’ve met Miss Jada. Did you like her?’ He said, “Mama, I really liked her.” And isn’t that what you want?” She remembered. “If he came home and said, ‘I didn’t like her mother, she was mean to me,’ my heart would be broken.”
“We’re family,” she added of Jada and Will. The group celebrates famous holidays and milestones together. Sheree was even there when their son Jaden, now 24, came home from the hospital as a baby.
“That kid was just the cutest thing. I adored him and still adore him. Willow too,” she added of Smith and Jada’s 21-year-old daughter.
Jada has often been Sheree’s biggest cheerleader, including having her on the Facebook Watch chat show “Red Table Talk” and pushing her to become a beauty entrepreneur.
Zampino had made an artisanal body butter that was first “cooked” in her gumbo jar and gave a jar to Jada, who told her this was a real business and encouraged her to hire a lab to manufacture and use the skincare product. to sell.
Whoop Ash was launched in 2007. But in 2015, in the wake of her divorce from her second husband, retired NFL star and City of Hope International Church pastor Terrell Fletcher, Zampino dropped the brand.
“I lost confidence in myself as a businesswoman,” she admitted.
In 2020, the pandemic was an opportunity to rebuild her confidence and relaunch Whoop Ash, as well as start an online fashion boutique called Sheree Elizabeth.
“All distractions are gone,” she said. “It was a time of healing, tremendous growth and transformation. It was a reboot and I went back to basics.”
During the lockdown, Zampino also had a “Covid bae”, but she is currently single.
“At this stage of the game, I really know what I deserve,” she said. “If you don’t come correctly, if you don’t come with intention, dignity and honor, then I’m not interested. I am the prize. If you think you’re the prize, that’s a problem.”
And she hopes “RHOBH” realizes that too — and makes her a full-fledged cast member next season.
“I want to be offered that diamond,” she said. “Yes I do.”
Photos: John Chapple for NY Post; Stylist: Star Burleigh/Celestine Agency; Assistant Stylist: Ali Gambino; Hair: Kat Sherwin; Makeup: Julie Jules; Location: Mondrian Hotel, West Hollywood.