WILL Smith said he considered killing his violent dad and suffered from “raging jealousy” over his wife’s relationship with Tupac Shakur.
The Hollywood A-lister has hit the headlines once again after he slapped Chris Rock during Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony.
Will Smith revealed a harrowing childhood ordeal in his memoir titled WillCredit: Twitter
Rock tried to joke: “Jada I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”
Actress Demi Moore famously shaved her head for her role in the 1997 blockbuster movie.
Jada, on the contrary, has been struggling with hair loss for years, and last year decided to shave it all off.
Smith stormed the stage and slapped Rock in the face before yelling: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
Moments after the altercation, Smith scooped the Best Actor gong for his role in the 2021 movie King Richard.
The movie documents the life of Richard Williams – the father of legendary tennis duo Venus and Serena.
Months before his Oscar’s success, Smith released his memoir, Will, in November last year.
In the book, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star revealed he once considered killing his violent father Will Sr.
He said he thought he “could easily get away” with it.
Will detailed the complicated relationship he had with his father Willard Carroll Smith Sr.
Will Sr. and the actor’s mother, Caroline Bright, raised Will and his three siblings in Philadelphia.
The actor said his dad was violent and an alcoholic but admitted he attended his games, plays and was sober at every movie premiere.
Will recalled a terrifying ordeal that happened when he was nine years old.
He said: “I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed. I saw her spit blood.
‘COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP’
“That moment in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment in my life, has defined who I am.”
The traumatic moment impacted the star’s life and career.
He penned: “Within everything that I have done since then — the awards and accolades, the spotlights and attention, the characters and the laughs — there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day.
“For failing her in the moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward.”
Will’s parents separated when he was a teenager and eventually divorced in 2000.
The actor admitted that his anger from the childhood incident resurfaced years later when he was caring for Will Sr amid his cancer battle.
In the book, Smith penned: “One night, as I delicately wheeled him from his bedroom toward the bathroom, a darkness arose within me.
“The path between the two rooms goes past the top of the stairs.
“As a child I’d always told myself that I would one day avenge my mother.
“That when I was big enough, when I was strong enough, when I was no longer a coward, I would slay him.”
‘I PAUSED’
He explained that he considered killing his dad in that moment.
Will said: “I paused at the top of the stairs. I could shove him down and easily get away with it.
“As the decades of pain, anger, and resentment coursed then receded, I shook my head and proceeded to wheel Daddio to the bathroom.”
The a-lister admitted that his turbulent relationship with his dad taught him how to find fulfillment in life.
Will also stunningly revealed in his memoir that Jada’s friendship with the late rapper Tupac made him feel “insecure”.
Jada and Tupac became friends while they both attended The Baltimore School for the Arts.
‘INSECURE’
And, the star admitted his mind was “tortured by their connection” when he first started dating Jada.
Will said Tupac had “a fearless passion that was intoxicating, a militant morality, and a willingness to fight and die for what he believed was right.”
He admitted Jada’s old friend made him feel inadequate and he compared the feeling to how he felt when he saw his younger brother, Harry, stand up to their abusive father.
The actor explained: “Pac was like Harry — he triggered the perception of myself as a coward.
“I hated that I wasn’t what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”
Will said in the book that Jada’s growing interest in him was “a twisted kind of victory.”
He wrote: “If she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward. I have rarely felt more validated.”
Will continued: “I was in a room with Tupac on multiple occasions, but I never spoke to him.
“The way Jada loved ‘Pac rendered me incapable of being friends with him. I was too immature.”
Will and Jada tied the knot in 1997 and they share son Jaden and daughter Willow.
In an interview with GQ last year, he revealed his wife “never believed in a conventional marriage” due to her upbringing.
RUMORS OF INFIDELITY
He said: “He said: “Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship… so she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up.”
Rumors of infidelity have surrounded their marriage for years.
Jada appeared to give the green light for Will to cheat, she revealed in a 2013 interview with HuffPost.
She said: “I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay’.
“I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that’s not for me to do for him. Or vice versa.”
Jada also revealed in 2015 that she’s not Will’s “watcher”.
That year, rumors swirled that Smith had an affair with Australian actress and producer Margot Robbie – allegations that both parties vehemently deny.
Speculation was rife about their “chemistry” on and off set while they filmed Focus – especially during raunchy sex scenes.
Margot told E-News: “He’s got this really lovely breath spray, it tastes like Christmas. It’s like he’s just eaten a candy cane.”
Both actors have denied all claims of a romance between them.
At a press junket, Margot said that she would never date an actor because “they are trouble”.
In 2020 the Smiths hit the headlines when Jada spoke publicly about her “entanglement” with August Alsina – a rapper and family friend.
She had a relationship with the then-27-year-old during “a difficult time” in their marriage in 2017, when they had “basically broken up”.
During an episode of Red Table Talk last year, Jada said: “As time went on, I got into a different type of entanglement with August.”
During the online show, Will admitted he and Jada had been separated for a “period of time” before he added: “I was done with you.”
Jada rebuked August’s previous claims that Smith had given him permission to sleep with her.
She said: “The only person that can give permission in that circumstance is myself.”
PAST DIGS
Jada was alongside Will at Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony.
The Men in Black star was reportedly still mad about Rock’s jibe at his wife from 2016 when he hit the comic.
Six years ago, the comedian took aim at Jada in his opening monologue for boycotting the Oscars due to a lack of diversity.
Chris suggested in his speech at the time that Jada couldn’t snub the Oscars that year because she hadn’t been invited in the first place.
He said: “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
A source told People: “When Chris hosted the Oscars in 2016, Jada was boycotting because of ‘Oscars So White.’
“In his monologue, he made fun of her, saying she can’t boycott something she wasn’t invited to. Will was still mad about that.”
Smith accepted the Best Actor gong for his role as Williams in King Richard.
He said: “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family.
“I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment, and I’m not crying for winning an award. Love will make you do crazy things.”
Smith’s award was his first-ever Oscar.
Smith slapped comic Chris Rock at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremonyCredit: AP