Will Smith had a serious case of foreshadowing. The 53-year-old King Richard actor feared losing his career months before his now-infamous slap at Chris Rock.
The actor shared this admission on David Letterman's Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
Will recalled worrying about losing his career and fortune while hallucinating on ayahuasca, a psychoactive herbal drink.
That night, Will Smith got up on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face.
This was in response to Rock making a joke about Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
After the slap, Will sat down and yelled, "leave my wife's name out of your [expletive] mouth."
Less than an hour after this, Will won his first Academy Award.
The film is about the father of Venus and Serena Williams turning his daughters into tennis champions.
In his speech, an emotional Smith apologized to the Academy.
"In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world," Will said.
Despite these apologies, he's been paying for the slap ever since.
The actor was banned from the Oscars and other Academy events for 10 years. Following this, the release date of the actor's upcoming film with Apple, Emancipation, has been pushed to 2023.
During an appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Will revealed that he was "terrified" to take ayahuasca, a herbal tea that causes a psychedelic experience.
"So you know you're in this room. You're sitting in the room. You don't lose sight. It's not, like, superimposed on this reality. It's totally separate."
This was the vision of his career imploding. "I'm drinking, I'm sitting there, and then, all of the sudden, it's like I start seeing all of my money flying away," he said.
"And I'm trying to grab for my money and my career. My whole life is getting destroyed. My fear. I'm in there and I'm wanting to vomit and all of that."
Then, he heard a voice saying, "This is what the [expletive] it is.
The vision hit closer to home when he heard his daughter, Willow, saying, "Daddy, help me! Daddy! How come you won't help me?"
"Then slowly I stopped caring about my money, I just wanted to get to Willow," he said.
This left him with an important realization:
"I realized that anything that happens in my life, I can handle it. 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," he said.
