Will Smith on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. Image Source: Latestly
Will Smith candidly spoke to David Letterman about his childhood pain and trauma.
During a recent episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, which was taped before the Academy Awards 2022, Will Smith appeared to talk about his 2021 memoir, "Will," "King Richard," and his childhood.
The interview showed how Will Smith admitted that he always thought of himself as a coward to the point as he witnessed his mother getting beaten up by his father and he did not do anything to stop him which left a traumatizing affect on him that he was a coward. The actor said that writing his memoir had sort of unlocked a part of him as an actor in ways that he was able to process a lot of life experiences differently and shared that he is glad that he can reach out to people differently compared to earlier times because of his pain.
Will Smith added that he is ready to dive into his heart in a way that he thinks and is hopeful would be fulfilling for him and his human family. The actor who recently won the Oscar for his performance in King Richard shared that his childhood experiences had driven him to appear as a cheery and positive person throughout his life, as he explained that he wanted people to feel good and happy when he’d show up because he realized that when his household was happy and good, he’d feel safe.
Will Smith spoke about how he realized that the material world is completely, utterly, and incapable of sustaining happiness, to which David Letterman added that beyond the essentials of protecting yourself and your family, Will instantly shot back that you can’t protect your family. Will elaborated that protection and safety are illusions and one has to learn to live with the reality that at any moment, anything could be gone in one second.
At one point during the interview, Will Smith shared with David Letterman that while he was tripping on ayahuasca which is a psychoactive herbal drink with powerfully hallucinogenic properties and mentioned that he had a vision that his career and life were going up in smoke. Will Smith shared that he took 14 journeys, one of which was the most hellish psychological experience of his life, and during that vision, he said that he heard his daughter Willow Smith calling for help, and that’s when he stopped caring about his money or career and just wanted to be near Willow.
After the vision, Will Smith said that he emerged with a new perspective on life in which he believed that whatever happened, he would be able to handle it. At one point, Will Smith talks about his private vs. public self and states that there is a person that you want to be, but then there is a person who you have to be for the public to view you as, and then there's the person who you are from the inside. At another point, David Letterman mentions Will Smith’s mother, to which Will Smith gets jokingly irritated and asks him to not say anything about his mother, something very similar to what he said to Chris Rock at the Oscars.
The interview started with a disclaimer that it was filmed before Oscars 2022 and to people's disappointment Will Smith won't be talking about the infamous altercation between him and Chris Rock. At the Oscars 2022, Will Smith walked up to Chris Rock and slapped him after the comedian who had appeared on-stage to present an award and had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head despite her publicly announcing she has alopecia. Chris Rock later stated that he did not know about her alopecia other wise he would have never made that joke.
Will Smith apologized to the audience and fellow actors as he stepped on stage to accept his award for King Richard but did not apologize to Chris Rock at the time. Will Smith publicly apologized to Chris Rock a few days later via a statement on his social media but not in person. The actor stepped down from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which meant that he could not vote but later the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences banned Will Smith for 10 years which he accepted graciously because he stated that he was at fault.
Other guests appearing on fourth season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, which is now available for streaming in its entirety on Netflix, include Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Durant, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
