Will Smith Gets Candid About the Realities of Fatherhood on ‘Red Table Talk’

Jada Pinkett-Smith featured Will Smith in the Father’s Day episode of Red Table Talk, in which they talked about the realities and rewards of fatherhood.

During their conversation, Will noted that he’s always wanted to be a father, but he understood that he could be a better father to his children than his dad was to him. “By the time I was ten years old, I remember looking at my father and thinking that I could do it better than him,” Will said to Jada. “My father had a little bit of a temper. I was a gentle kid, like, I was not a kid that you had to slap or punch or beat. So growing up in a household where physical aggression was approved of, that really chaffed my hide. That hurt my spirit.”

He then went on to explain that he learned to accept his father’s imperfections after he passed. He revealed that his father was physically abusive toward his mother. Although that left him traumatized, he learned how not to scar his own family.

“Well there’s such beautiful qualities that he instilled that are a big part of what made me ‘me,’ and as the yin to every yang, I watched [my father] beat up my mother,” he continued. “So the biggest emotional scar that I have in this lifetime, he delivered that also. He showed me a lot of things that I wanted to do, but he also showed me the things I would absolutely, positively never do to my children.”

Despite this, he praised his father for being attentive, describing his father’s ability to teach a “superpower.”

“Every single moment was a teaching moment,” Will said. “He believed that school wasn’t the only place you could get an education.”

About himself, he said he knew that he wanted to be a father since he was six-years-old. This dream became a reality with the birth of his son, Trey, when he was 24.

“I think that was my first moment of the real weight of parenting. I brought him home, and I remember we put him in the bassinet… and it was like stark terror. I’m totally responsible for this life… I just cried so hard. It makes me teary right now,” Will said, his voice heavy with emotion.

“I can’t do it. I’m not the guy. Oh man, I just knew I didn’t know nothing,” he continued while choking back tears. “Oh man, I’m going to need to get myself together. I’m going to have to walk this one off… I need a tissue. See I thought the red couch wouldn’t get me like this. The red table always gets you like this.”

And he spoke further about his relationship with his daughter Willow and his son, Jaden.

Watch the full conversation with Will Smith’s appearance on Red Table Talk below.

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