Will Smith: 'I fell in love with my costar'

Will Smith has confessed he fell in love with Stockard Channing after the two co-starred in Six Degrees of Separation. Photo: Getty

Will Smith may be happily married to Jada PInkett Smith - but she wasn't always the woman on his mind.

In a recent interview with GQ, Smith, 46, admitted that he fell deeply in love with a female co-star 25 years older than him while he was experimenting with method acting while filming Six Degrees of Separation with Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland.

"I got a taste early of the dangers of going too far for a character. My character was in love with Stockard Channing's character. And I actually fell in love with Stockard Channing," Smith told the magazine.

Stockard Channing and Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation. Photo: Supplied

Reciprocating the admiration, Channing said she was "flattered" by the Smith's confesssion at a recent event.

"I'm very flattered," Channing told the New York Daily News. "That's a wonderful thing...I adored him from the first time I laid eyes on him because I thought he was genuinely sweet," Channing added.

"I felt very protective of him, because it was his first big job. It's amazing for me to hear that he felt that way, I'm delighted."

PHOTOS: Costar Couples: Star Romances That Started On Set

PHOTOS: Costar Couples: Star Romances That Started On Set