Will Smith and Ex-Wife Reunite to Celebrate Son's Birthday at Vegas Bash
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's marriage may be the target of endlessgossip, but one thing is for sure: the couple plays nice with his ex-wife.
The Men in Black star's eldest son, Trey, celebrated his 22nd birthday on Friday at the Ghostbar Dayclub at the Palms in Las Vegas. Not only were his dad and stepmom there to mark the occasion, but his mom – Will's first wife, Sheree Fletcher – was as well. And things were peachy between all parties. Although Jada kept an arm around her hubby in a group photo of the trio, the pair appeared to get along well with Sheree, sharing a warm greeting with Will and gushing about Jada on Instagram.
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The Hollywood Exes reality star — who was married to Will from 1992 to 1995, during his Fresh Prince days — reposted photos from the event and had nothing by kind words to say about it. "Celebrating @ace0011 with the BEST bonus mom ever!!! #Jada & babydaddy #VegasBaby," she wrote.
"Bonus mom" was a term Jada adopted after she said "I do" to Will in 1997. During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010, she explained that after she and Will married and started their own family, they came together with Sheree and her second husband, NFL star turned pastor Terrell Fletcher, as a close-knit extended family for the sake of their children.
"Sheree and I both had to make that decision, because at the end of the day, we had Trey and that had to be the primary focus," Jada told Oprah. "So we had to put aside our own craziness, our stuff, all the baggage that comes with it. She and I just had to focus on, 'What does he need?' ... At the end of the day, it's like, we have to let go of our own selfish desires [and] look [at] what can we do to facilitate the group, and facilitate the children, who ultimately are our future."
Sheree told Oprah it took a long time for them to get to that place, but they did. "You realize, [Will and I] had our chance, now it's about those kids," she said.
Jada and Sheree — who's in the process of divorcing Fletcher — are so close they even chat about typical friend things like books. Jada, along with Will, produced the 2008 movie adaptation of the book The Secret Life of Bees after Sheree recommended the read to Jada.
"My bonus son's mother actually called me, Sheree, and she said, 'Jada, you have to read this book," she recalled. "And I fell in love with it."
As for birthday boy Trey, who inspired Will's hit "Just the Two of Us" (and appeared in the 1998 video with his famous father), he's a deejay and he provided the music for his own birthday bash.
During an interview with VH1 earlier this year, Sheree talked about how Trey differs from his half-siblings, Willow, 14, and Jaden, 16, who have Hollywood careers and are often making headlines.
"Trey was raised differently – in a different home," Sheree said. "Trey doesn’t really like the limelight. I don't want to say he’s more grounded, but he just had a different upbringing. He wasn’t as exposed to the whole Hollywood aspect of life. A lot of that was by choice because [his] dad wouldn’t leave him out. [However,] he has an insight and he doesn’t like anything that's not real or authentic."
And that may make him our favorite Smith kid yet.
