"Would you ever think that you'd be speaking to your son at the Dolby Theatre in front of all these people about this?" DuVernay asked. The superstar then performed his 1997 track Just The Two of Us, accompanied by his pianist Marcus. Smith pointed out his eldest child in the audience, who was sitting alongside his mother, Smith's ex-wife Sheree Zampino, and asked him to stand for the applause, while a neon sign that read "Happy Birthday Trey" flashed on screen. Speaking of the Smith kids, the evening was marked with special significance with it falling on Trey's 29th birthday. Partially because of my childhood, I wanted a chance to, like, do it better and a chance to do it right."
"From the time I was five-years old, I knew I wanted to be a family. "I wanted to be a father my whole life," he explained. Smith also shared how that fractured relationship pushed him to try to become "the best father this planet ever seen" for his kids Trey, Jaden and Willow. "If everybody's laughing, and everybody's having a good time, nobody's getting beat up." "I started performing as a way of trying to keep peace in my house," he revealed. Aren't you supposed to hate somebody that beats up your mother?"Īs a youngster, Smith took on the situation as his own personal failure, becoming an entertainer as a defense mechanism. "He was my hero, you know, but at the same time, he beat up my mother in front of me. "Some of the greatest things about me are because he was my father, some of the greatest lessons of my life - the way I look at the world, the way I can endure, the way that I think," Smith shared. And as acclaimed filmmaker Ava DuVernay interviewed the two-time Academy Award-nominated actor at the home of the Oscars, it was hard not to imagine that Smith could very likely return to this venue in about four months for his portrayal of Richard Williams, father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard.įatherhood was a major throughline for the conversation as Smith detailed his complicated relationship with his father Willard Carroll Smith Sr (who went by Daddio), who Smith says was and is his hero, but also a source of great pain, as he was abusive during Smith's childhood.
Part rap show, part motivational seminar and part sermon, fans hung on Smith's every word as he opened up about the highs and lows of his life and career, divulging the secrets to his success in Hollywood, as well as some of his darkest moments and deepest disappointments. The 3,400 seat theatre was packed to the rafters for the two hour event, as Smith brought his own special brand of smoke to the stage both in the form of pyrotechnics, as well as a fresh verse. Will Smith's book tour took over the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night.
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