Over the weekend, Netflix unveiled a new episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, taped before the 2022 Oscars, with Will Smith sitting down with former late-night host David Letterman. The men discussed Will’s 2021 memoir, his Oscar-winning King Richard role, and the psychedelic trip he had that predicted his career “downfall.”
While the revelation was shared before his Oscars outburst where he slapped comedian Chris Rock for a joke made about his wife, it sounded eerily similar to the backlash the actor received as a consequence.
Will Smith’s Predicts Career Spiral While On Psychedelic
While speaking with Letterman, the Oscar-winner admitted taking ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic tea, 14 times within two years. He acknowledged that he saw his career “going away” during one significant trip.
“Once you drink it, you’re going to see yourself in a way you’ve never seen yourself. One of the experiences was the individual most hellish psychological experience of my life. 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.”
In a panic, the Hollywood star became physically ill at his vision.
“My whole life is getting destroyed,” he said. “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— it is. This is what the f— life is.’”
Will Smith then described seeing his daughter Willow cry out for help which changed his vision.
“Then slowly, I stopped caring about my money; I just wanted to get to Willow. I stopped caring about my house, my career,” he shared with Letterman. ”
When I came out of it, I realized that anything that happens in my life, I can handle it,” the 53-year-old actor said. “I can handle any person I lose; anything that goes wrong in my life can handle anything in my marriage. Anything that this life has to offer me.”
Will Says He Can’t Protect His Family, It’s An Illusion
In the conversation with Letterman, there’s also a noteworthy moment where Will observes that “you can’t protect your family.”
“Protection and safety is an illusion. You have to learn to live with the reality that any moment, anything can be gone in one second,” he said. “So with that reality, how can you be here? And how can you be joyful and be here?”
If you recall, Smith spoke about protecting his wife, Jada, in the controversial moment that costed him his Oscars invitation for the next ten years. He later apologized for his actions calling them “unacceptable and inexcusable.” He’s since resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Film Academy has banned Will Smith from attending Oscars and other Academy events for the next 10 years.
