The path was not always super smooth when it came to their pursuit of happiness.
Jada Pinkett-Smith reflected on the now-unbreakable bond built between her and Will Smith's ex-wife Sheree Zampino during the latest episode of Red Table Talk. (Sheree and Will—who are parents to Trey, 29—split in 1995 after three years of marriage, with Jada and Will tying the knot two years later).
"We have developed a really nice sisterhood," Jada said during the Oct. 19 episode. "But it hasn't been easy along the way," adding that "sometimes we did have to fake it to make it."
As Jada—who shares son Jaden, 24, and daughter Willow, 21, with Will—noted, the concept of blending families without a "blueprint" presented its challenges.
"For me, it really was just about maturity," Jada said. "Not understanding the marital dynamic. Like, ‘OK, if divorce papers are sent and people are over it, then this is done.' Guess what? It ain't never done…So that was my biggest misconception—that this woman is part of this family."
The Set it Off star admitted that looking back, she now realizes that she crossed a few boundaries early on in their relationship—including a moment when she attempted to speak to Sheree about Trey's behavior. "I can remember some times that I really crossed the line," Jada shared. "It was a lot of intertwining and it got kind of messy."
But Sheree has given Jada grace for that point in time. "It was out of line, but you didn't mean any harm," Sheree noted. "You were like, ‘Listen, we gotta get him right.'"
However, Jada recalled Sheree also overstepping her boundaries—which included the latter "marching in" and "looking around" at Jada and Will's master bedroom during a visit. "It was early on," Jada recalled. "I think you were just trying to, like, ‘I just need you to know who Queen Bee is around here'…She marched all up and in that house." The actress added that at the time she and Sheree were "both very fiery."
But as Sheree noted, their common goal served as the basis for their growth. "Coming into this, doing the blended thing, my only requirement was that you treated my son well," she noted. "You did that. And your heart was always right towards him, wanting the best for him."
As Jada explained, they were able to also communicate their feelings through a journal passed between the two. "We were able to have difficult conversations, we were able to own up," the Girls Trip actress said. "And we knew that it was going to take the two of us…to lead the way."