Sheree Zampino recently shared that Trey, her son with actor Will Smith, once told her that he didn’t “feel loved” by her growing up.
The skin care entrepreneur was participating in an episode about forgiveness on “Red Table Talk” posted on Wednesday. Zampino was stepping in for Willow Smith, who co-hosts the multigenerational family Facebook Watch show with her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her grandmother, Adrienne Banfield Norris.
“I’m having a whole moment,” the entrepreneur said during the episode.
Zampino explained that her son, who is now 29, once initiated a difficult conversation about their relationship while he was embarking on a personal emotional journey.
“One of the things that my son said to me when he started to do the work, one of the things that came up for him … he felt that he wasn’t loved, right?” she said. “And I said, ‘Oh my God, your father loved you, what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘I’m not talking about him, I’m talking about you.’”
Zampino later added that her son further explained that he didn’t think she cared about his feelings growing up. She then shared that that conversation spurred her to reflect on some of the ways she raised him.
“When he was little, and he would fall or something would happen, he’d be disappointed because I was around so many women, I would be like, ‘You’re OK!’” she said. “So I would cheer him on, instead of just sit in that space with him. And just be there.”
She said she reflected on what her son had said and realized he was “so right.”
“I didn’t have the capacity to care about his feelings … because I didn’t have the capacity to care about mine,” she said, later adding that she was raised to be tough and stay on “autopilot.”
The segment also featured singer Jana Kramer and therapist Nedra Tawwab.
Steve Granitz via Getty Images
Will Smith and Zampino wed in 1992 before splitting in 1995. Smith married Jada Pinkett Smith in 1997. They share Jaden, 24, and Willow, 21.
Pinkett Smith and Zampino often publicly discuss their sisterhood and journey as a blended family.
Earlier in Wednesday’s episode, Pinkett Smith admitted to Zampino that she should have waited longer before getting involved with the “King Richard” actor after his relationship with Zamino ended.