Instagram – Sheree Fletcher
In the beautiful first episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch series Red Table Talk, Jada had a very honest and mature conversation with Sheree Fletcher, Will Smith’s ex-wife and mother of his son, Trey, about what it was really like for them adjusting to sharing parental responsibilities. Fletcher was initially very resistant to warming up to Jada and having someone else hold an important part in Trey’s life. And it wasn’t easy watching someone else build the family that she felt she had broken up when she ended her marriage to Will (1992-1995).
“I chose to walk away from the marriage. That’s a choice that I made, and even to this day, thinking that I’d broken up a family,” Sheree said. “I didn’t give Trey what I wanted for him. I didn’t give him what he needed. I didn’t give him what his brother and sister have. That’s hard. But that’s what I have to live with. And that broke me down. It still hurts.”
But everyone has put the best interests of all kids involved (Trey, Jaden and Willow) in the forefront. Jada, Sheree and Will get along very well, have celebrated holidays and major milestones together, and per the Red Table Talk, can say that they’ve moved past hard feelings and foolishness. They all have love for one another, as friends, as co-parents.
So why the fuss over this photo?
For Throwback Thursday, Sheree shared an old picture of herself (looking stunning may I add) standing with Will as both parties held on to a very tired Trey. The image is from a time early in their marriage, and it seems to be a harmless look at a family we never really got to know much about. Honestly, all we’ve ever known is the admirable love that Will and Jada share.
But of course, someone took things left and questioned why Sheree was sharing an image of a man who is now someone else’s husband.
“Girl stop posting @jadapinkettsmith HUSBAND. YOU’RE THE EX,” someone wrote. “They’ve been married for a century. Give it up. Post your own man. He’s Trey dad. THAT’S ALL.”
“IDK why she’d choose to post this pic on social media,” said someone else.” This is a family photo that should be in an album sitting on the coffee table. Kinda looks suspect. I wouldn’t do this if I were the ex in this factor!”
“I think pictures of you and trey are fine but not all 3 of yall,” said another commenter. “Not sure what happened in your marriages but keep your focus on God. Loving will is great but keep that to yourself.”
And while Sheree could have been annoyed by the negativity, she handled it well. She made it clear that she has love for Will, the platonic kind, but any other kind of love “sailed” 23 years ago. She isn’t trying to do anything but share a simple photo of herself with her son and his father.
“This is a great & interesting discussion — I can’t post a picture of my SON’s parent without criticism,” she said. “For the record, I LOVE the father of my child but I DO NOT want @jadapinkettsmith MAN!”
Talk about a mess.
Now, if an image like this had been posted, say, during the early days of Will and Jada’s relationship, then it might be a reason to raise an eyebrow. (Anyone else miss life before social media?) But it’s been 23 years. If she wanted him back, a move probably would have been made by now. But the relationship that they’ve all built, the efforts they’ve made to create stability for the kids involved is what all three individuals seem to be focused on. So who cares about a photo?
And that’s probably why Sheree can share an image like this. For others, when you’re not so friendly with your partner’s ex, the mother of their child, then everything they do and say can be looked at as an attempt to be shady. Any image of your partner posted on social media by that ex is perceived as a way to reminisce about what could have been. There has to be some underlying purpose that’s not positive. When relations are not mature, you can only assume someone is making a mad dash for your man. But it’s because of the bond, because of the maturity and because of the progress Will, Jada and Sheree have and have made that she can post such an image and it truly just be a simple throwback. Not every relationship is dysfunctional. Not every blended family is faking the funk. And not every photo has a deeper message.
And most importantly, that image is a representation of an important period of time in her life. Sure, her marriage with Will didn’t work out, but she got something beautiful out of it — her son. All parties may have moved on, but that doesn’t mean all memories from that time are now invalid and need to be kept out of sight. She has every right to be able to share an image (note: she hasn’t been sharing one a week or anything like that) of that time, of her son and his father, without it having to turn into a “So what is this about?” discussion.
