Good Dad for Life: All About Will Smith's 3 Kids

Will Smith is a dad to three kids: Trey, Jaden and Willow. He shares his oldest son with ex-wife Sheree Zampino, and his youngest two children with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

All three of Will's children have followed him into the entertainment industry, and all three have maintained their own unique paths while doing so. Will has also included all three children in his own projects.

Unlike some stars, Will has been open about his highs and lows as a parent and his own shortcomings. Here is a look at Will's relationship with his three children.

Does Will Smith have children?

Will Smith is a dad to three children: Trey, Jaden and Willow.

Who are the mothers of Will Smith's children?

Sheree Zampino

Zampino and Will got married in May 1992 and welcomed their only son together, Trey, in November of that year. The pair divorced three years later, something that Will later admitted was an "ultimate failure."

In an interview on Red Table Talk in 2020, Will said, "With Sheree and with Trey, that was a really difficult time. Divorce was the worst thing in my adult life, divorce was the ultimate failure for me. I've been hurt a lot in my adult life, but I don't think anything touches the failure of getting divorced from my 2-year-old son's mother."

Zampino remarried in 2007, tying the knot with NFL player Terrell Fletcher, but the pair divorced in 2014.

Zampino has remained close to Will and his family, including his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, though the two women have admitted it took work for their relationship to blossom. In 2022, Jada said, "Sometimes we did have to fake it to make it. Trying to have a blended family and not really having a blueprint of that. We really had to figure it out along the way."

"For me, it was really about maturity. Just not understanding the marital dynamic, like 'OK, the divorce papers are sent, and people are over it, and this is done,' she continued. "Oh, guess what—it ain't ever done," Pinkett Smith continued. "So that was my biggest misconception, in that this woman is a part of this family."

Jada Pinkett Smith

Will and Jada first met in 1994 after Jada auditioned for a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She didn't get the part of Will's girlfriend onscreen but the pair began dating that year and went public with their relationship in 1995. They married two years later.

Jada was three months pregnant with their first child the day they got married, and Jaden Smith was born in July 1998. Their daughter, Willow, was born two years later.

The pair have weathered several rumors throughout their decades together, including that they have an open marriage and that they are getting divorced. In 2015, Will denied divorce rumors directly on Facebook, where he wrote, "Under normal circumstances, I don't usually respond to foolishness. (Because it's contagious) But, so many people have extended me their 'deepest condolences' that I figured - 'What the hell... I can be foolish, too!'"

"So, in the interest of redundant, repetitious, over & over-again-ness... Jada and I are...

NOT GETTING A DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! : -)

I promise you all - if I ever decide to divorce my Queen - I SWEAR I'll tell you myself!"

It came as a huge shock, then, when Jada revealed while promoting her memoir Worthy in 2023 that she and her Oscar-winning husband had been separated for seven years, since 2016.

"I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce," Jada told Today's Hoda Kotb. "We will work through whatever, and I just haven't been able to break that promise."

She sat down for a follow-up interview to clarify that she and Will were "working very hard to bring our relationship back together … back to a life partnership."

"Here’s the thing about husband-wife marriage for me, my healing process," Jada said. "I came into that with very specific ideas that blocks me from seeing Will as who he is. He can’t be this perfect, idealized husband. I have to be able to accept him for the human that he is. He accepts me for the human that I am, and we want to love each other there.”

Related: Why Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith Didn't Get a Prenup

Was Will Smith married to Trey's mother?

Yes, Will and Zampino were married for three years. They divorced in 1995.

Who are Will Smith's kids?

Trey Smith (1992)

Willard Carroll Smith III, or Trey as he's known by family and friends, was born on Nov. 11, 1992.

In a 2020 interview on Red Table Talk, Will recounted what first-time fatherhood was like. "I brought him home, we put him in the bassinet, it was like stark terror," he explained. "I’m totally responsible for this life. I couldn’t stop going and checking. I just cried so hard. It makes me teary right now."

Will also admitted that he was distant from Trey for a while after he and Zampino divorced because he didn't want Trey to see him in any way similar to his own father, who was abusive. "I think my desire to never have my son see me in that way made me more absent as a father," he shared. "I wanted to create enough distance. We not gonna be cursing, fighting."

Will had previously opened up about his relationship with Trey in a video shared on Instagram in 2018. He explained in the caption, "It has not always been like this between Trey & I. We STRUGGLED FOR YEARS after my Divorce from his Mother. He felt betrayed & abandoned. It is a Wild Blessing to recover & restore a Loving Relationship with My Beautiful Son!"

View the original article to see embedded media.

Jaden Smith (1998)

Will and Jada's son Jaden was born on July 8, 1998. He's been working in the entertainment industry for years, and made his debut on the TV series All Of Us alongside his dad and brother. His first film was 2006's The Pursuit of Happyness, which also starred his father.

Jaden also starred with Will in 2013's After Earth, which hit a sour note with fans at the box office. In his 2021 memoir, Will wrote that what Jaden experienced was difficult to bear. "Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I'd instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced," he explained.

"We never discussed it, but I know he felt betrayed. He felt misled, and he lost his trust in my leadership," Will added. "At 15 years old, when Jaden asked about being an emancipated minor, my heart shattered. He ultimately decided against it, but it sucks to feel like you've hurt your kids."

Since then, Jaden has continued to act and has also pursued a career in music. He released his first album in 2017 and was nominated for a Grammy in 2022 after he collaborated with Justin Bieber on the latter's album Justice.

Willow Smith (2000)

Willow joined the Smith family on Oct. 31, 2000. Like the rest of her family, she is an entertainer and has worked in music, fashion and film. Willow starred alongside her dad in 2007's I Am Legend and with her mom as a voice actor on Madagascar 2 in 2008.

Willow was signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation at age 9 after she released her hit song "Whip My Hair" and she toured with Justin Bieber the following year. But in 2012 it was clear Willow had had enough, and she shaved her head in defiance of the attention that chapter of music career brought.

Will later said that Willow's decision to shave her head prompted him to reevaluate his own parenting decisions. As he told People, "I felt like I had been texting looking at my phone and stepped out into the street in front of a bus and Willow snatched me back. As strange as it sounds, in that moment I discovered feelings. Because of my childhood, because of the way I was raised ... I didn't care about how I felt so I damn sure didn't care about how somebody else felt."

"My parenting style changed in that moment ... That was a major transition for me in my life. I feel like Willow saved me from what could have been tragic in my life."

Willow, who co-hosted Red Table Talk alongside her mother and maternal grandmother, recently released a contemporary jazz album Empathogen.

Related: The Complete Timeline of Will and Jada's Marriage

Do Will Smith's kids act?

Yes, all three of Will's children have acted alongside their father. However, none of the children seem to be actively pursuing careers in the field.

Do Will Smith's kids sing?

Both Jaden and Willow have released music professionally.

What has Will Smith said about fatherhood?

Will has been very open about his journey as a father, including his own shortcomings and areas where he could have been better. In 2022, he told Showtime's Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he's only recently begun to feel like he's hitting his stride in the role.

"This has been probably the greatest period of my fatherhood. I was an OK father for my first son. I got a little bit better with Jaden. I got my sea legs with Willow and probably the last couple of years of my life I had sufficiently suffered enough to have real wisdom," he said. "This last year with my kids has been the best parenting."

"If I had to say something to guide someone about it is, first and foremost, everybody sucks at the beginning," Will added. "It’s OK to not be good at it. It’s OK to make mistakes and the best thing you can do for your kids is learn and grow yourself."

Next, Will Smith's Net Worth In 2024 From 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' to King of Hollywood