What You Never Knew About Will Smith

Will Smith's path to movie stardom has not been typical. As Biography noted, Smith burst on the scene as a PG-rated rapper: one-half of the duo known as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That initial burst of instant fame led him to television, and he starred in the beloved sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" for six hit seasons before branching out onto the big screen. 

Since then, the rapper-turned-actor has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars: According to Box Office Mojo, his films have raked in a combined $9.3 billion at the box office. Now, however, Smith faces an uncertain future after letting his anger get the most of him during the 2022 Oscars when he strode onstage and smacked comedian Chris Rock across the face during the live television broadcast. The slap-heard-round-the-world occurred following an unfortunate joke that Rock made about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Making the entire thing even more bizarre, Smith just moments later went on to win his first Oscar.

There's undoubtedly much to learn about his fascinating public figure, so keep reading to find out what you never knew about Will Smith.

Will Smith's negative feelings about "Wild Wild West" were only compounded by the success of the film he passed up starring in it. "I did turn down Neo in 'The Matrix,'" Smith confessed in a "Storytime" video on his YouTube channel, explaining that an unconvincing pitch meeting with the Wachowski brothers — who directed "The Matrix" — guided his decision. "I'm not proud of it," Smith admitted but did concede that eventual star Keanu Reeves "was perfect" in the role.

As Smith explained, "The Matrix" would have been a very different movie had he played Neo "because I'm Black, then Morpheus wouldn't have been Black because they were looking at Val Kilmer" for the role that ultimately went to actor Laurence Fishburne. "So, I probably would've messed 'The Matrix' up. I would've ruined it." Smith believes that "I did y'all a favor" in passing.

During a red carpet interview (via Daily Motion), Smith admitted that if he had the chance to go back in time to one of his movies and offer himself some advice, he would return to the set of "Wild Wild West" and tell himself, "***hole, why didn't you do 'The Matrix?'"

Will Smith's crazy work ethic is displayed in a crucial scene in his film "The Pursuit of Happyness," in which his character solves a Rubik's Cube within two minutes (via YouTube).

There are no cutaways or camera trickery involved; Smith solved the Rubik's Cube by himself. But, of course, Smith didn't just pick the thing up and figure it out for himself but was taught by expert Tyson Mao, who holds the world's record for solving the puzzle in the shortest amount of time while blindfolded. As Mao told the Chicago Tribune, the original idea was to use a hand double for the scene, but Smith was insistent that he could do it "genuinely on-camera."

According to Mao, Smith was such a good student that he gained the ability to solve a Rubik's Cube "from any configuration." "You can scramble it for as long as you want, and it won't make it any harder for him," he added.  

Smith proved he hadn't lost that skill when he was handed a Rubik's Cube during a talk show appearance — and solved it on camera. 

In 2021, Will Smith opened up about his life in his memoir, "Will." An excerpt published in People detailed his fraught childhood due to his physically abusive father, William Carroll Smith Sr. As Smith wrote, his relationship with his alcoholic father was complex and not easily categorized. "My father was violent, but he was also at every game, play, and recital," Smith explained, conceding that the same "intense perfectionism" that "put food on the table" also "terrorized his family."

A defining moment occurred when Smith was nine when he witnessed his father strike his mother in the head "so hard that she collapsed. I saw her spit blood." He wrote that memory has never left him, leading to childhood fantasies that he "would one day avenge my mother." 

Smith was confronted with an opportunity for vengeance years later when his father was ill with cancer. Wheeling his terminally ill father to the bathroom, Smith recalled pausing at the top of a staircase. "I could shove him down, and easily get away with it," he wrote, describing "the decades of pain, anger, and resentment" that bubbled to the surface before he brushed those feelings aside. Smith's father died in 2016.

In 1989, Will Smith and musical partner Jeffrey Allen Townes — or DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince — won a Grammy for their single "Parents Just Don't Understand." Their win was a historical one, given that it was in the Best Rap Performance category — marking the first time that particular category had been introduced. 

However, Smith and Townes weren't on hand to accept their award because they decided to boycott the ceremony. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the pair balked when they discovered that the new category wouldn't be part of the televised award ceremony. "We chose to boycott," Smith told Entertainment Tonight. "We feel that it's a slap in the face." 

As Smith explained, the Recording Academy — which puts on the annual award show — knew nothing about rap and wasn't giving the genre the respect he felt it deserved. "Our boycott was to open their eyes to rap music, so next year, some rapper will be able to perform at the Grammys, and the awards will be televised because the music is large enough and important enough to be on the show," he said.

As Will Smith wrote in his 2021 memoir "Will" (via People), watching, at age nine, his father assault his mother was a moment he could never put behind him. He had never been able to overcome the guilt he felt "for my inaction that day" for his inability to stand up to his father. 

Ironically, his feelings of cowardice have also driven him to achieve ever-greater heights in his career. "What you have come to understand as 'Will Smith,' the alien-annihilating M.C., the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction — a carefully crafted and honed character — designed to protect myself," he wrote, as excerpted by GQ. 

It was his father's death, he told the magazine, that finally allowed him to share the secret he'd been keeping for his entire life. "I never would've been able to talk about that while he was alive," Smith admitted.

Will Smith made headlines and Oscar history when he strode onstage during the 2022 Academy Awards and slapped presenter Chris Rock in the face (via YouTube) after the comedian had jokingly compared Jada Pinkett Smith's bald look to Demi Moore's shaved head in "G.I. Jane." For her part, Pinkett Smith had previously opened up about her struggles with alopecia (via Page Six).

However, there may have been more history behind Smith's action — which led him to be banned from the Oscars for 10 years, Variety has reported — than viewers realized. When Rock hosted the 2016 Oscars, he made a joke at the expense of Pinkett Smith, who was publicly boycotting the event due to that year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy (via the BBC). "Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties," Rock quipped at the time (via YouTube). "I wasn't invited."

When asked about Rock's mockery, reported Entertainment Tonight, Pinkett Smith seemingly brushed it off. "It comes with the territory," she said.