‘Real Housewives’ star Garcelle Beauvais reveals she dated Will Smith right in front of his ex-wife

Beauvais playfully teased that before Smith made it official with Sheree Zampin, she'd had a fling with him first.

May 22, 2020

Garcelle Beauvais and Will Smith (Credit: Getty Images)

Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has been reinvigorated thanks to the addition of Black Hollywood veteran Garcelle Beauvais and in the latest episode, she made a stunning admission about dating Will Smith, right in front of his ex-wife Sheree Zampin.

Wednesday, the series kicked off in a way that it never had before, with Beauvais being flanked by a group of beautiful, accomplished, Black female friends. Fans who had previously slammed the Beverly Hills franchise for its lack of diversity applauded the network for finally showing there really are successful Black people in California.

Garcelle Beauvais

But as the former Jamie Foxx Show actress caught up with her longtime friends to exchange notes on how difficult it is to date in the industry, she casually dropped a bombshell that viewers didn’t see coming.

First Beauvais waxed poetic about how much she leaned on her friends when she divorced her husband Mike Nilon in 2011 after discovering he was cheating.

“I thought I married a person who would have my back, and to find out that he was cheating, there were no signs for me,” she said. “I was blindsided. My girls, after my divorce, were there for me. They came and hung out at the house. They slept over. I think what makes us strong as women is when we can connect.”

After years of watching Bravo, this moment 😍 🙌🏾 media acts like Latinas and Black women and Muslim women etc., don't exist in these spaces, but WE ABSOLUTELY DO. This scene was EVERYTHING. Groundbreaking moment for #RHOBH franchise. ALL HAIL GARCELLE 👑 pic.twitter.com/qIOADtEIAO

— The Messy Trenza (@MessyTrenza) May 21, 2020

That’s when Zampin chimed in to talk about how she and Smith prioritized co-parenting their son Trey even after he married current wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, sharing “Will and I, when we got divorced, we have never had a relationship that doesn’t have Trey in the center of it.”

But you could almost hear a pin drop when Beauvais playfully teased that before Smith made it official with her friend, she’d had a fling with him first.

“He was hot. He was a bachelor. I was single, you know? It happens in Hollywood,” she said of the 51-year-old actor.

Fans have speculated about if Beauvais and Smith ever dated after she made a steamy Instagram post on his 50th birthday that featured a throwback picture of them passionately kissing. Now we finally have an answer.