Will Smith said the Oscars slap forced him to confront his need for approval and led to a creative breakthrough.
Will Smith says the aftermath of his 2022 Oscars outburst forced him into deep self-examination and creative rebirth, revealing in a new interview that he had to dismantle his long-standing need for public approval.
Speaking with BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz, the actor and Hip-Hop artist opened up about the emotional and mental toll following the moment he slapped Chris Rock on stage during the Academy Awards after a joke aimed at his estranged wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
“The last few years for me have been really deep reflection,” Smith said. “After the Oscars I shut it down for a minute and really went into the internal work and just taking a big, strong, honest look at myself.”
The incident, which aired live and quickly dominated headlines, resulted in Smith being banned from the Oscars for a decade. He admitted the backlash was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his decades-long career.
“For the first time in my career, (I was) having to deal with a level of disapproval that I never had to experience,” he said. “The addiction to the approval of others that I had to dissolve, it was brutal.”
The confrontation happened during the 94th Academy Awards in March 2022, when Rock, presenting on stage, made a joke referencing Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
Will Smith walked up, struck Rock across the face, and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!” Smith said the moment cracked open parts of himself he hadn’t explored before.
“It was just like there was a manhole cover over some unexplored areas and the manhole cover came off,” he said. “It was scary for a minute what was in there.”
Despite the chaos, Will Smith said the experience eventually led to a creative surge.
“But then all of a sudden, all these new thoughts, new energies, new creativity came through like a geyser and it started showing up as music,” Will Smith said.
Earlier this year, Smith released Based On A True Story, his first album in two decades, marking a return to his musical roots after years focused primarily on acting.
Will Smith, 56, remains banned from attending the Oscars until 2032.
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