Yahoo
Will Smith said he was interested in dating his “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” costar Karyn Parsons, but she turned him down.
In his self-titled memoir released on November 9, Smith spoke candidly about his experience on the hit ’90s sitcom, which marked his acting debut.
“Fresh Prince” centered on Smith’s character having a fish-out-of-water experience as he left his hometown of West Philadelphia to live with his Uncle Phil (James Avery), Aunt Viv (Janet Hubert), and three cousins named Hilary Banks (Parsons), Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro), and Ashley Banks (Tatyana Ali) in their lavish Bel-Air mansion.
Smith described Parsons as “the least experienced next to me” and said that she “beat out a slew of Hollywood big hitters to win her role.” The actor said that Parsons also knew that it was in their best interests to remain professional.
“Was smart enough to tell me ‘hell no’ when I tried to explain that we were not really cousins so it would be fine if we dated. (‘I swear it won’t mess up our working relationship.’ She knew better than that — good call KP),” Smith said.
Smith ended up meeting his first wife, Sheree Zampino, at a taping of “A Different World” on a nearby set and married her three months later. Their first and only child together, Trey Smith, was born in November 1992.
Smith and Zampino’s divorce was finalized in 1995 and the actor dated Jada Pinkett Smith, who he first saw exiting a casting office for “Fresh Prince.”
They got married on December 31, 1997 and welcomed two children together: son Jaden Smith (born in July 1998) and daughter Willow Smith (born in October 2000).
