Will Smith was subjected to a lot of headlines in the recent past following his Oscar fiasco with comedian Chris Rock. The infamous incident critically impacted Smith’s career. Later in an interview with Trevor Noah, the Hancock actor opened up about what led to the incident and what was exactly going on in his mind. While he mentioned that his father has a role to play in the rage that was bottled up within him, his biography shows a different story.
Looks like Will Smith shared quite a complicated relationship with his father. On one hand, he had a very terrific outlook but at the same time, he was also very supportive of his son. No matter how badly he behaved, he never failed to properly attend any premiere of his son as long as he was alive.
What does Will Smith’s biography say about his father?
In Will, the Oscar-winning actor revealed his father to be a very influential personality and always did everything with ease as if everything was under his control and is going to be fine.
“Daddio had a way of moving through the world like everything was under control, it was all going to be fine.”
Will Smith also added that his father the Late Willard Smith was a very ambitious personality whom he always looked up to. Not only did he has work and employees but also high ambitions. He wanted the white people to work for him The whole personality of his father also impressed the King Richard actor’s ‘Mom-Mom’ very much.
“He had his own business. He had employees. He wanted to work in white neighborhoods, with white people working for him. Daddio was going places.”
But no matter how much ambitious he was, the Bad Boys fame also openly spoke about how he was almost on the verge of killing his father due to his violent ways. He also stated once that his father is both the greatest blessing as well as the greatest pain in his life.
How did his father’s traumatic behavior affect Will Smith?
Will Smith apologized to Chris Rock a number of times after the Oscar controversy where a joke by Rock on Smith’s wife and the actor stormed onto the stage and slapped the comedian hard. He not only stopped there and also went on to yell at the comedian with slurs. This divided the whole Internet and also led the actor to attract intense criticism from everywhere.
Even though Rock never responded to Smith, the actor spoke a lot about the incident when he appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He explained that a lot of rage was bottled up in him which resulted in the incident that unfolded on that Oscar note. He also mentioned how his problematic childhood due to his father’s behavior played an important role in it.
“I was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behavior at all… It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be. I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time.”
It can be understood that Senior Smith had a dual personality that made the family dynamics more complex. Will Smith is still waiting for a big comeback project following that incident. Although his Emancipation raised some expectations, the movie couldn’t perform well. It also received mixed to negative reception worldwide.
Emancipation can be streamed on Apple TV+.
Source: Will-Will Smith’s biography/The Daily Show
