Jada Smith has seen the malicious side of Hollywood. Like most actors, Jada Smith also lived the days of rejection for weird reasons. Of course, she stayed on her path and forged a wonderful career since her appearance in the 1987 sitcom A Different World.
The actor’s movie debut in Allen Hughes, and Albert Hughes’s 1993 crime drama Menace II Society has even shined her career further but the road to Hollywood was a hard nut to crack. The actor once auditioned for Will Smith’s NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air but could not secure the role.
Jada Smith’s Failed Audition in Will Smith’s Show
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a hit at NBC and the show had a total of 6 seasons. The show ran from 1990 to 1996 and Jada Smith auditioned to play the Beullah ‘Lisa’ Wilkes, Will Smith’s (Smith kept his and his character’s name the same in the sitcom) love interest, featured in season 5 of the show. Recalling Jada Smith’s audition, her husband, Will Smith revealed details of Jada Smith’s failed attempt in the show in his memoir Will.
“Apparently, the casting agent had just told her she wasn’t tall enough to play my girlfriend on the show. She hated that about Hollywood — that somehow her height (or lack thereof) was of more vital importance to the art than her abundant talents. Oblivious to all of this, I stepped into the river,” the actor wrote (via Mirror).
Will Smith was pretty upset too, “I was sitting in a [bathroom] stall and I was crying and laughing uncontrollably, and I knew [Jada] was the woman I was supposed to be with,” he revealed. However, one good thing did come out of it, both the actors came even closer.
Jada and Will Smith’s Lifelong Partnership
The couple first met when Jada Smith auditioned for the role of his girlfriend onscreen on his NBC sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Of course, she never secured the part but the audition brought the duo far too close. At the time Will Smith was married to Sheree Zampino, his first wife with whom he shares a son Trey. Their marriage eventually ended in 1995 and Jada and Will Smith tied the knot on 31 December 1997. At the time of their marriage, Jada was three months pregnant with their son, Jaden. It was all horrible for the Set It Off star.
“I cried all night long because I was pregnant, my life was never going to be the same. I didn’t want to get married. I never wanted to be married. I didn’t want to have a wedding either. It was a horrible wedding. It was a mess,” the 52-year-old said (via ET Online).
Her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones somehow convinced the actor to get married, it was a strong suggestion but she was still devastated by the suddenness of everything. “I went crying down the freaking aisle,” she recalled. “I cried the whole way,” she added. But it all worked out in the end. The couple has celebrated their 25th year of marriage and share two children, Jaden Smith, and Willow Smith.
