After a tumultuous decade that saw several of his children become household names before the infamous Oscars Slap sent his film career into a tailspin, Will Smith is taking a moment to reflect.
In a new appearance on Kevin Hart’s Peacock talk show “Hart to Hart” (via Page Six), Smith recalled his enthusiasm about launching the acting and music careers of his children Jaden and Willow — and the cost that eventually came with it.
“2010 was like the greatest year as an artist, as a parent. ‘Karate Kid’ came out in June, ‘Whip My Hair’ came out in October. I’m building this dream of a family I’ve had in my mind,” Smith said. “‘I’m going to do it better than my father did it.’ We’ve talked about it, my father was abusive… I told myself I would never have that kind of energy with my family, and I had a dream, an idea of a family I was building. Pretty much 2010 to 2012 I had achieved everything I had ever dreamed. I was beyond [my] wildest dreams.”
But Smith revealed that his kids’ early successes quickly gave way to family strife, as his ambitious management of their careers interfered with family bonding.
“Nobody in my family was happy. Nobody wanted to be in a platoon. Willow was the first one to begin the mutiny, and it was my first realization that success and money don’t mean happiness. Up until that point, I really believed that you could succeed your way — to a house and a family — and you could win your way to happiness.”
Smith said that the difficult experience of bristling with his children over their careers prompted him to reevaluate his priorities in life. He began to focus more on his family than on material things and his entertainment career.
“You can have so much stuff that it makes you miserable,” he said. “That was my first pull-back, and I was like, ‘OK, what am I missing?’ That’s when I started reading and studying psychology and the relation to human happiness. I was never unhappy, I loved life — but I was driving the people around me in a way that I was leaving scorched earth.”
