Smith became the biggest headliner on the black Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She ran a show that sometimes had as many as 40 people and made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Gee liked the money she was earning, but did not like her show business life. In particular, he did like the fact that Smith was bisexual. In 1929, Smith found out that Gee was having an affair with another performer called Gertrude Saunders. Smith separated from Gee but they never got divorced. Smith went to live with a man called Richard Morgan, as is they were husband and wife. He was an old friend and the uncle of a jazz musician called Lionel Hampton. Smith and Morgan stayed together for the rest of her life.