by Chiara Maffioletti
From his early days as a rapper in Philadelphia to the top of Hollywood, married but in an open partnership for 25 years: the many lives of one of the world’s most popular actors
As of last March 27, Will Smith had identified a precise moment in his life that could have influenced the person he would have been more than any other. “When I was 9 years old I saw my father hit my mother in the side of the head and hit her so hard she collapsed and I saw her spit up blood. That precise moment in that bedroom defined me more than any other moment in my life. Everything I’ve done since, all the awards and accolades I’ve won, has been my way of apologizing to my mom for not playing that day. That she was let down at that moment. For not turning against my father. For being a coward. Those words, written in his autobiography, Will, published last November. The power of will they seem strange today. Today, when the actor, perhaps afraid of feeling like a “coward” again, turned the night of his party (March 27th, when he received his first Oscar) into a night that shattered his reputation in one fell swoop Has.
The moment that changed everything
The night of the slap given to comedian and Oscars host Chris Rock after he mocked the hair of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia. A night, indeed, a moment that changed everything, hurt many (the episode immediately went around the world and the actor is/was a role model for millions of people), but for none like Smith himself. After a few weeks decided the Academy to give him the award for A Winning Family. King Richard, but literally banning him from Oscars and all other events for ten years. This ends the sad story of the boy from Philadelphia, who later became the Prince of Bel Air. He, who started rapping when he was 12, combined rhymes with that irony that would have saved him a number of times over the years. He, who at the end of the eighties had also become the protagonist of a show that later became a cult, seemed to tell his story: from the suburbs of a city that is not always easy, to the mansions of the most exclusive neighborhoods of Los Angeles, while maintaining your identity maintain.
everyone’s friend
And that’s what made him a myth: the notion that Will Smith was the friend of many, the one who, despite his success, remained himself while learning to evolve, to grow. And that’s how it was when it came time for the big leap: from television to the cinema. Successful, also in this case. Smith was the protagonist of dozens of sensational hits, such as “Bad Boys” (1995), “Independence Day” (1996), “Men in Black” (1997). And just when a trend very popular blockbusters seemed to be emerging, another dive, towards auteur cinema and more complex, more dramatic roles, from that in “Ali” to “The Search for Happiness”, directed by Gabriele Muccino. He had convinced there too. He was always candid about a winning career that had made him one of the highestpaid actors in Hollywood. Even in his biography Smith had not left out the dark moments, even if he had been tempted to kill his father. «One night we read when I was taking him from his bedroom to the bathroom, evil took possession of me. The path between the two rooms leads past the top of the stairs. As a child I promised myself that one day I would avenge my mother, that I would kill him when I was old enough and strong enough, when I wasn’t a coward anymore. So I stopped at the top of the stairs. I could have just knocked it over and got away with it. As decades of pain, anger, and resentment flowed and then receded, I shook my head and continued to take my dad to the bathroom. ‘
The “evil” that returns to visit
The “evil” apparently returned on the night of the Oscars “to possess him.” Even then, however, Smith had clarified it, borrowing the words of Denzel Washington: “In your highest moment watch out: That’s when the devil comes,” he explained shortly after the slap episode when he apologized. From this moment on silence. He, who was followed by over 64 million people on Instagram alone, has disappeared. Not even an Oscar picture, nothing. All frozen up until the moment he shared the look he and his wife chose for the evening. They, who have two children together and have been a couple since 1997. But a nonmonogamous couple, as he revealed: “Marriage must not become a prison. The experiences, the freedoms we have given each other and the unconditional support are the highest definition of love for me. A love that he also defended in his intentions last March 27, giving life to the most sensational and unpredictable parable that made the day of his consecration the most difficult day of his entire career.
April 11, 2022 (Change April 11, 2022 | 13:50)
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