Featured Image Credit: Red Table Talk/Alamy
Topics: Will Smith, Celebrity, TV and Film, Drugs
Jake Massey
Topics: Will Smith, Celebrity, TV and Film, Drugs
It's been almost two months since the most extraordinary night of Will Smith's career.
At the 94th Academy Awards on 28 March, the 53-year-old picked up the Oscar for best actor, in what should have been one of the most treasured moments of his life.
However, the whole event had been overshadowed by this point, after he took to the stage and slapped Chris Rock.
The actor subsequently resigned from the Academy and was later banned from attending all Academy events for the next 10 years.
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He's been keeping a low profile since the incident, but an interview recorded prior to slapgate has now been released on Netflix - and it's impossible to interpret it the same way as we would have done pre-Oscars.
Appearing as a guest on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Smith told an anecdote about tripping which has taken on new meaning since he originally shared it with the host.
In the episode - which opens with the disclaimer 'This episode was filmed prior to the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony' - Smith recalls taking ayahuasca, a psychoactive herbal drink with powerful hallucinogenic properties.
"Once you drink it you're going to see yourself in a way you've never seen yourself," he said.
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"One of the experiences was the individual most hellish psychological experience of my life.
"I drank, and it usually takes about 45 minutes to kick in. And I'm sitting there and you always feel like, 'Maybe it won't kick in this time.'
"So I'm drinking and sitting there and then all of a sudden it's like I start seeing all of my money flying away, and my house is flying away and my career is going away."
The King Richard star said he then tried to 'grab' at his money in the vision, as his worst fears became a reality.
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He continued: "My whole life is getting destroyed.
"This is my fear in real life, and I'm in there and I'm wanting to vomit and all of that, and I hear a voice saying: 'This is what the f**k it is. This is what the f**k life is.'"
Eventually, the horrific trip came to an end, and while it sounds like quite the ordeal, it may have left him better able to cope with the situation he now finds himself in.
"When I came out of it, I realised that anything that happens in my life, I can handle it," he concluded.
"I can handle any person I lose, I can handle anything that goes wrong in my life, I can handle anything in my marriage. I can handle anything that this life has to offer me."