Will and his father maintained a rocky relationship for much of his life, but things changed when Willard was given a life-threatening diagnosis and told he only had six weeks to live. Willard died in 2016, and his death was a pivotal anecdote in Will's memoir.
Lou is the deadbeat biological father of Will Smith and the ex-husband of Vy. Lou abandoned his family (Will and Viola "Vy" Smith) when Will was five years old and explains his motives for leaving by saying he was scared to be a father and started to feel trapped.
Looks like Will Smith shared quite a complicated relationship with his father. On one hand, he had a very terrific outlook but at the same time, he was also very supportive of his son. No matter how badly he behaved, he never failed to properly attend any premiere of his son as long as he was alive.
His father, Lou, who had abandoned him at childhood, returns in the episode "Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse." His dad promises to take him on the road with him, but later drops Will, and the resulting disappointment breaks Will's heart.
The heartbreaking moment Will's dad left | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - BBC
Was the Fresh Prince dad scene improvised?
Fans of the show have long believed that Smith improvised that final scene in which his character builds to an emotional crescendo, loudly proclaiming all the milestones he got through without Lou, but “every word was written by Bill and I,” Zuckerman said.
Early in Will's career, he married his first wife Sheree Zampino and shortly after, they welcomed their son Trey. While Will says that he immediately recognized the profound impact of fatherhood at age 24, he took a step back from his role as a dad when he and Sheree divorced two years later.
Growing up in West Philadelphia, Smith was raised in a middle-class household by his parents, Caroline Bright and Willard Carroll Smith Sr. Despite his parents' separation when he was young, Smith had a close-knit family and was instilled with values of hard work, perseverance, and discipline.
Will Smith's path to superstardom began in West Philadelphia, where he was raised by his single mother, Caroline Bright. With determination and talent, Smith rose to fame as an actor and rapper, becoming one of the most beloved figures in Hollywood.
Smith also got emotional when reflecting on becoming a father for the first time, at the age of 24. “I think that was my first moment of the real weight of parenting,” he said. “I brought him (Trey) home, and I remember we put him in the bassinet… and it was like stark terror.
"My father was violent, but he was also at every game, play, and recital. He was an alcoholic, but he was sober at every premiere of every one of my movies," he writes. "He listened to every record. He visited every studio.
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born July 8, 1998) is an American rapper and actor. The son of Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith, he has received various accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an MTV Movie Award, a BET Award and a Young Artist Award.
During an interview with Rolling Stone, the Shark Tale actor said the "largest part" of why his first marriage didn't work was because he "didn't trust women" after being cheated on in the past.
Sheree Zampino was married to Will Smith for three years, and the two share one son, Trey Smith. Both went on to marry other people — Smith tied the knot with actress Jada Pinkett Smith in December 1997, while Zampino married former NFL player Terrell Fletcher in 2007 (although they divorced in 2014).
She said no, and he said “Cool, you're seeing me now.” Both Will and Jada maintain they began seeing each other after Will and Sheree separated. December 10, 1995: Smith officially divorces his first wife, Sheree Zampino, mother to his oldest son, Trey.
His dyslexic super power of outstanding auditory memory helps him overcome the reading challenges from dyslexia and enables him to memorize multiple scripts. Now, he has several nominations and awards for his work in music and film to attest to his success despite his struggles with dyslexia.
This is the highest-rated episode of the series. Will Smith considers it the most emotional episode because of his feelings about his father, both on the show and in reality. His real-life father was there for him growing up (despite being separated from his mother), but many of his friends never knew their fathers.
Born in 1968, Smith was 22 years old when the series first aired in 1990, potentially 21 if his September birthday hadn't yet arrived (and likely 21 when filming began). By definition, then, he was already an adult and much older than the high school-aged teenager he was purporting to be.
Karyn Parsons decided to go into acting at the age of 13. She had her first TV role in the NBC drama The Bronx Zoo (1987), but she made her big break as Will Smith's cousin "Hilary Banks" on the NBC sitcom. During the show's six-year run, she starred in movies such as Class Act (1992) and Major Payne (1995).
