Sheree Zampino is celebrating a particularly rewarding season of her life as she continues to focus on family, faith and good fortune.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, who prides herself on being an expert entertainer, is excited about her annual tradition of Thanksgiving with ex-husband Will Smith, their son Trey and a big table filled with family members.
“We’re going to do a family get together. The good thing about that is I don’t have to cook everything,” she told Fox News Digital.
“We’ve been doing that as a whole family … Dad, Jada [Pinkett Smith], you know, the kids, and we all get together, and we share. We celebrate the holidays.”
Zampino and Smith were married for three years and have son Trey. They called it quits on their relationship and divorced in 1995, but have remained a prime example of a positive co-parenting force. Earlier this year, Zampino showed her support for the “King Richard” star following the heavy backlash he faced for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Zampino’s friends and family boast about her cooking, and joked she likes to “put people to sleep” with her recipes, including her famous “Crack and Cheese” (a play on Mac & Cheese).
Zampino shared the love — and the beloved recipe — during an episode of the Facebook Watch show “Red Table Talk” with Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones.
“We’ve been doing that as a whole family … Dad, Jada, you know, the kids, and we all get together, and we share. We celebrate the holidays.”
Zampino and Pinkett Smith have willingly discussed their trials and tribulations on the show through the years as they’ve raised their families together. Pinkett Smith, who married Smith in 1997, recently told Zampino that she “would have definitely taken a beat as far as putting myself within the dynamic of you guys” had she understood the dynamics around marriage at the time of Zampino’s divorce from Will Smith.
“For me, it really was just about maturity,” Pinkett Smith said. “Just not understanding the marital dynamic. Like, OK, well, divorce papers are sent and people are over it, then this is done … Guess what, it ain’t never done.”
Zampino gave Pinkett Smith credit, though, and said, “When you got it, I remember you coming to me, and you were teary, you were very emotional, and you said, ‘I just didn’t know.’ And basically what you were saying is, ‘I was in the picture too soon.'”
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With Thanksgiving around the corner and plans set it in stone, Zampino is also thinking about the true meaning behind the holidays now that her son, who turned 30 on Nov. 11, is no longer pining for Santa Claus or begging for every toy in a mailer.
“I’m in a season where it is not the same. I think when you have little kids, it’s so much different,” she said. “It’s fun, and you’re decorating together, really get into the holidays and the spirit of it. But it’s different now. It’s a lot more calm, more peaceful and more connected to really what the holiday is, especially for Christians.”
She added, “We’re celebrating the birth of the savior. I like to get more into the spirituality, the spiritual part of things versus just the pressure to buy gifts.”
The reality star often reminds her Instagram followers of her background in motivational speaking while candidly speaking in video clips about the importance of practicing self-love and finding self-worth.
We’re celebrating the birth of the savior. I like to get more into the spirituality, the spiritual part of things versus just the pressure to buy gifts.”
Zampino recently discussed how “you’re the most important person in your life” in one video, and said she had to learn to truly love herself.
“Loving yourself in a way that you want to take care of you and your mental well-being, your physical well-being, your emotional well-being is very important,” she said.
Zampino is not so sure of the next steps, but she is excited to hone an innate craft.
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“I believe that’s one of the reasons why I’m here,” she said. “I always say, ‘God gives it to me, and I’m giving it to you’ because I think that’s the responsibility that we have. If I get some divine download, or I have some level of understanding that could possibly help somebody, why would you not give that? Why would you not pass that along?”
Zampino became a breakout star on the 12th season of “Real Housewives of Bevery Hills,” and previously told Fox News Digital that she had not yet been formally asked to be a fulltime cast member on the next season, but that she wanted “to be offered the diamond.”
She has yet to hear anything about production for next season, and still is not sure if diamonds are on the table.
“I’m in a different place, a different space and because I feel everything at such a heightened level, I thought, well, maybe that’s not a good thing for me to be in an environment where, you know, there’s going to be drama, and the drama is going to be perpetuated,” she said.
As part of practicing self-love, Zampino is doing a hard reset with an intense spiritual retreat before the end of the year when she hopes to find some clarity about the future.
“I don’t want to run from something. You know, even if it’s going to be hard, I don’t want to run from it,” she said. “All assignments aren’t going to be comfortable assignments. They’re not going to be warm and fuzzy assignments. So I have to get clarity and clarity on that piece. But right now, who knows.”