In his new memoir 'Me', 'The Pursuit of Happyness' actor reveals that seeing his father, Will Sr., physically abusing his mother, Caroline Bright, when he's still a teenager affected his life.
- Nov 4, 2021
AceShowbiz - Will Smith has opened up about his darkest thoughts. In his new memoir, "Me", "The Pursuit of Happyness" actor confessed that he once thought about killing his father to "avenge" for his mother.
In an excerpt obtained by PEOPLE, the 53-year-old actor unveiled painful family secrets, including a traumatic childhood incident involving his late father, Will Sr., that he claimed scarred him for years. "My father was violent, but he was also at every game, play, and recital," so he wrote.
Will then described his father as "an alcoholic" but his dad "was sober at every premiere of every one of [his] movies." The former star of "The Fresh Prince of Bel‑Air" continued, "He listened to every record. He visited every studio. The same intense perfectionism that terrorized his family put food on the table every night of my life."
"When I was nine years old, I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed," Will remembered his dad hitting his mother, Caroline Bright. He further explained, "I saw her spit blood. That moment in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment in my life, has defined who I am."
Despite maintaining a close relationship with his father, Will explained that his anger stemming from that childhood incident surfaced again decades later, while he cared for his father, who had cancer. "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," he stated.
"I paused at the top of the stairs," Will detailed the ominous moment. The "Aladdin" actor added, "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."
Elsewhere in his new memoir, Will shared that seeing his mother being physically abused impacted his 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." He detailed, "For failing her in the moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward."
Will said, "What you have come to understand as 'Will Smith,' the alien-annihilating MC, the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction -- a carefully crafted and honed character -- designed to protect myself." He went on to stress that his character is "to hide [himself] from the world. To hide the coward."
