Will Smith’s Son Trey Once Blew His Mind With a Question About God

Will Smith’s son, Trey, was born Nov. 11, 1992. Will divorced Trey’s mom, Sheree Zampino, in 1995 but Will and his second wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, made sure to include Trey in their new family too. As Zampino introduced Trey to the church, Will was excited to discuss religion with his first son. However, Trey blindsided him with one of his questions. 

Will wrote about Trey’s question in his autobiography, Will before segueing into his own religious exploration in the book’s last 50 pages. Here’s how Trey stumped his dad. 

Will Smith’s son Trey discovered religion at 20

Zampino was rediscovering her faith and brought Trey along, Will wrote. Will supported that. Trey was 20 and Will was ready to discuss spirituality with him. Will had already discussed his religious views in public interviews by that point. He also praised Jada for her conversational skills, so he was looking forward to having some deep philosophical talks with Trey, within reason.

“I loved how Trey took to the Bible,” he wrote. “He was one of the purest hearts of any human I have ever met. I was excited to discuss Abraham and Isaac and to debate the righteousness of David and what the story of Lazarus really meant. I was wide open to ponder the life of Christ in the spiritual content, and the historical, even the mythological if his mind could handle it. What I was neither prepared nor willing to do was to debate the scriptural inadequacies of my life decisions.”

Trey Smith’s question that blew Will Smith’s mind 

Will alluded to the fact that Zampino used some of her new faith to question his behavior during their marriage. He didn’t appreciate that, given that she was involved in many of those activities. So in the midst of reconciling his ex-wife’s second thoughts, Will had to face his son’s question, too. It was actually a two part question, the second of which was the kicker. 

“Trey asked me at dinner one night, ‘Dad, what do you worship?’” he wrote.

Will thought he had his answer down: “‘I worship God,’ I said.”

A simple follow up called everything into question. 

“‘Are you sure?’” he wrote that Trey asked. 

Trey planted seeds of doubt 

Will would travel the world meeting spiritual leaders. He would attempt 14 days of silence and more. A trip to Trinidad was pivotal in Will’s spiritual growth, and he developed the movie After Earth to explore his spiritual quest. Some of those activities were more productive than others. 

“I had brushed off his question, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he wrote. “I do interviews for a living; thirty-five years of questions in fiftysomething languages. And the number one greatest question that I have ever been asked is ‘What do you worship?’And the second greatest question is ‘Are you sure?’”