Pinkett met actor Will Smith when she auditioned for the role of his girlfriend on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She didn't get the part, because producers thought she was too short to make a good match for the 6-foot-2-inch actor. For several years, Smith and Pinkett occasionally ran into each other at Hollywood functions, and when his marriage to model Sheree Zampino broke up, Smith called Pinkett and they began dating. They lived together for two years before marrying in a small ceremony in her hometown on New Years Eve, 1997.
Smith and Pinkett Smith are either extraordinarily dedicated to their family or they have a PR flack who really, really works hard at getting that message out. "Family comes first" is what they both seem to stress in every media report about either of them. In 2003, Smith and Pinkett Smith sought a restraining order against one Mike Cooley, husband of their kids' former nanny, who had been fired for unspecified reasons. Cooley, they alleged, was stalking their children. Smith and Pinkett Smith collaborate as executive producers of the UPN sitcom All of Us. Pinkett also sings lead vocals in the band Wicked Wisdom, which opened for Britney Spears on her 2004 European tour.
