Will Smith was 'terrified’ during a date with Salt-N-Pepa star Sandra 'Pepa' Denton. Picture REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Will Smith was "terrified" during a date with Salt-N-Pepa star Sandra 'Pepa' Denton.
The 55-year-old 'Men In Black' star asked the musician out in early 1988 and he pulled out all the stops to impress her by renting a white Mercedes convertible car and planning a drive around Los Angeles ending with a stop in the Hollywood Hills to watch the sunset.
However, Smith admits nerves almost got the better of him.
During an appearance on his Class of ‘88 podcast alongside Salt-N-Pepa, he explained: "[It was] sometime in early ‘88 ... I always had a thing for Sandy, but she was always dating somebody else. Now she was single. We was both going to be in L.A. at the same time, so Imma shoot my shot ...
"This girl was special and I wanted to impress her, so I rented a white Mercedes convertible just because I needed to floss a little bit. My plan was then to take her around Hollywood Hills, drive up Mulholland and all that, watch the sunset."
However, Denton said there was one part of the date that impressed her the most - revealing she was pleased to see Smith show kindness to a homeless person.
She explained: "I know exactly what happened. We were out and we saw a homeless person and you gave the homeless person $100. I was like okay and it was so nice. And then we went to the Hollywood sign."
Smith added of the incident: "My concern was that I was going to get killed. That was my concern when I was trying to spit my game, but I ain’t really have nothing ...
"I was always faked like I had game. I didn’t really have game. I was always in this full-on, trying to give the wildest flavour of having game, but that might have been the most terrified I had ever been trying to shoot my shot with Pepa. And I didn’t believe I had a real shot."
However, the romance didn't last as it fizzled out shortly after their first date, but Smith insisted the pair "always really got along".
He went on to wed Jada Pinkett Smith almost a decade later in 1997, while Denton married to rapper Treach from 1999 to 2001.