Hollywood has this weird way of blurring lines. You spend twelve hours a day pretending to be someone else, looking into another person's eyes, and saying words written by a stranger. Usually, when the director yells "cut," you go back to your trailer, grab a salad, and remember you’re a millionaire with a mortgage. But for a young Will Smith back in 1993, the lines didn't just blur. They basically evaporated.
He was 24. He was the Fresh Prince. He was also, quite famously, a new father and a newlywed. But while filming Six Degrees of Separation, Will Smith found himself in a psychological tailspin. He wasn't just playing a character who was enamored with Stockard Channing’s character—he was actually, genuinely falling in love with her.
The Method Acting Trap
Back in the early '90s, Smith was desperate to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. He didn’t want to be the "sitcom guy" forever. To prepare for the role of Paul, a sophisticated con artist, he dove headfirst into Method acting.
It sounds sophisticated until you're the one living it.
Smith started staying in character for days at a time. He would spend nearly a week at a stretch being Paul Poitier, the smooth-talking intruder who charms his way into the lives of a wealthy New York couple. He wasn't going home as Will. He was going home as Paul. And Paul was in love with Ouisa Kittredge, played by Stockard Channing.
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"You're actually playing around with your psychology," Smith told Esquire years later. He described the process as "reprogramming" his mind to like and dislike things based on the character's perspective. It worked—too well.
A Marriage Under Siege
The timing was honestly a disaster. While Will was "yearning" for Stockard Channing on a film set in New York, his first wife, Sheree Zampino, was at home with their brand-new baby, Trey. Imagine being Sheree for a second. You marry a funny, charismatic guy named Will Smith. A few months later, a stranger named Paul moves into your house. He talks differently. He acts differently. And he’s clearly thinking about another woman.
In his memoir Will, the actor admitted that the experience was "unsettling to say the least" for Sheree. Their marriage was already on thin ice, and his emotional unavailability during the shoot pushed it toward the edge. When the film wrapped and he moved back to Los Angeles with his family, the feelings didn't just vanish. He described himself as "dying" to see Stockard again.
It was a wake-up call. Smith realized that he had pushed himself into a dangerous mental space. He hasn't touched Method acting since.
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What Stockard Channing Actually Thought
While Will was having a full-blown existential crisis, Stockard Channing was... well, she was being a professional. She was 49 at the time, more than two decades older than Smith, and she viewed him with a very different lens.
When she finally heard about his crush years later, her reaction was remarkably sweet. She told Page Six she was "flattered." In her eyes, there was nothing romantic going on between them. She described her feelings as "motherly."
- She saw a young, talented kid on his first big dramatic job.
- She felt protective of him.
- She thought he was a "sweetheart" and "naturally easygoing."
Essentially, while Will was having a "life-changing" romantic epiphany, Stockard was just making sure her co-star didn't get overwhelmed by the New York theater crowd.
The Reality of the "Six Degrees" Scandal
To be clear: nothing physical ever happened. Smith was very open about the fact that their relationship remained strictly professional on set. The "affair" was entirely internal, a byproduct of a young actor not knowing how to build a firewall between his work and his real life.
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It’s easy to look back and see this as a spicy celebrity gossip story, but it’s really a story about the cost of ambition. Smith wanted to be the best so badly that he almost let his real life dissolve.
His marriage to Sheree Zampino ended in divorce in 1995. While the Stockard Channing situation wasn't the sole cause, it was a symptom of the "rocky start" Smith described. He was a man obsessed with success, often at the expense of his own peace of mind.
Lessons From the Set
There is a reason you don't hear about Will Smith doing "The Method" for Men in Black or King Richard. He learned his lesson. Here is the takeaway from the whole Smith-Channing saga:
- Professional boundaries matter. If you have to "trick" your brain into feeling something for a job, you might not like the person your brain becomes.
- Chemistry isn't always mutual. You can feel a deep, soul-shattering connection with someone who just thinks you're a "nice kid."
- Ambition is a double-edged sword. Smith’s drive made him a superstar, but it also made him a pretty difficult partner in those early years.
If you want to understand the modern Will Smith—the one who is hyper-reflective and sometimes "too" honest about his personal life—you have to look back at the 1993 version of him. He was a guy trying to find himself, getting lost in his roles, and learning the hard way that you can't always control where your mind goes when the cameras start rolling.
For anyone navigating high-pressure environments or deep creative work, the best thing you can do is maintain a "tether" to your real self. Don't let the job eat the person. Smith stopped being "Paul" a long time ago, but the marks that role left on his life stayed around much longer than the film's theatrical run.