Will Smith revealed his violent father taught him some of the “biggest lessons” of his life. As per Page Six, Will, 53, saw his late father beating up his mother when he was a kid, and he still has contradictory feelings towards his father.
According to an extract of the book released in the Sunday Times, the “Men in Black” actor details the domestic abuse in his new book “Will,” and calls the devastating incident a defining moment. “When I was nine years old, I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed.
I saw her spit blood,” Smith writes in his book that was released last Tuesday. However, Smith’s father, Willard Carroll Smith Sr., and mother, Caroline Bright, separated while Smith was an adolescent, but the repercussions of that one night at their house have persisted.
“Within everything that I have done since then — the awards and accolades, the spotlights and the attention, the characters and the laughs — there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day,” Smith says. For failing her at that moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward,” said Will as per Page Six.
Meanwhile, Smith reflects on his inability to interfere in his very emotional analysis of the incident. “I decided to be funny. I wanted to please and placate him because as long as Daddio was laughing and smiling, I believed we would be safe. I was the entertainer in the family. I wanted to keep everything light and fun and joyful.”
The actor has lately been open about his personal life and some of the difficulties he’s faced. He recently acknowledged having suicidal thoughts while shooting a YouTube fitness and weight loss series, and he has been honest about the inner workings of his open marriage with wife Jada Pinkett Smith.