Will Smith said he really wanted to date his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Karyn Parsons, but she was quick to turn him down.
In his self-titled memoir released on November 9, Smith spoke candidly about his experience on the hit '90s sitcom, which marked his acting debut.
The hit sitcom centered on Smith's character leaving his hometown of West Philadelphia to live with his Uncle Phil (James Avery), Aunt Viv (Janet Hubert), and three cousins named Hilary Banks (Parsons), Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro), and Ashley Banks (Tatyana Ali) in their lavish Bel-Air mansion.
Smith described Parsons as "the least experienced next to me" and said that she "beat out a slew of Hollywood big hitters to win her role."
The actor said that Parsons also knew that it was in their best interests to remain professional.
"Was smart enough to tell me 'hell no' when I tried to explain that we were not really cousins so it would be fine if we dated. ('I swear it won't mess up our working relationship.' She knew better than that — good call KP)," Smith wrote.
Smith ended up meeting his first wife, Sheree Zampino, on the set of A Different World and married her three months later.
Their first and only child together, Trey Smith, was born in 1992. The pair's divorce was finalized in 1995 and the actor dated Jada Pinkett Smith, who he first saw exiting a casting office for Fresh Prince.
They tied the knot in 1997 and welcomed son Jaden in 1998, and daughter Willow in 2000.
Elsewhere in his memoir, Smith opened up about the romantic feelings he developed for Grease star Stockard Channing.
The actor revealed how he "fell in love" with his Six Degrees of Separation co-star, Channing — who is perhaps best known for her playing Betty Rizzo in Grease.
At the time, Smith was married to his first wife, Sheree Zampino, and they had just welcomed their son, Trey. But as his feelings for Channing grew on the set of the 1993 film, their relationship remained strictly professional, he writes.
He wrote: "Sheree and I were in the first few months of our marriage with a brand-new baby and for Sheree, I can imagine that this experience was unsettling, to say the least.
"She'd married a guy named Will Smith and now she was living with a guy named Paul Poitier," he continues, referencing his character's name in Six Degrees of Separation.
"And to make matters worse, during shooting I fell in love with Stockard Channing. After the film wrapped, Sheree and Trey, and I moved back to L.A. Our marriage was off to a rocky start. I found myself desperately yearning to see and speak to Stockard."
