You sure read that right. Will Smith’s wildly successful YouTube channel entered some new territory with a medical video — and not just any medical video.
It was Will’s colonoscopy. No detail was spared. No image left un-pictured. He laid it all on the line in the name of education.
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Oh, and he also got super loopy post-surgery. You know you wanna read about that .
Will was about to go through it.
At the urging of his Doctor, Dr. Ala Stanford, Will decided to get a colonoscopy in Miami.
Before the procedure, he sat down with her to go over what was going to happen.
Unfortunately, the audio was lost.
So Will decided to do things silent movie style, with caption cards and grainy footage.
Will said that he was scared, and Ala laughed that he should be. I mean…man, if someone was sticking a camera up —
You know what, I’m not gonna finish that sentence.
The next morning, Will gave a pretty thorough description of his night.
His night on laxatives, that is.
“12 o’clock was a murder scene. CSI Miami would have had to come check the 12 o’clock. And then at 3 o’clock, it was like, you could tell the fixer had come in from the 12 o’clock.”
Hey, health isn’t always pretty.
The doctor then came in and gave him the rundown.
After the surgery, he couldn’t do anything super strenuous, and no decision making. “No art auctions, no eBay…”
So, this man is speaking from experience, and I need to know that story ASAP.
Well, here’s Will Smith’s butt.
Will then switched over to vlogging himself, showing off his no-slip socks and his open-backed gown. He was not impressed.
“My [expletive]’s gonna be out.”
He made sure to give us a shot of it, just to demonstrate.
We met him post-surgery.
The last thing he said before going in: “[expletive] water.”
Obviously, they couldn’t film the procedure.
The only hint we got that it was over was the caption, “However many hours a colonoscopy takes later…” You know it was about to get really good.
“He’s like the Martin Scorsese of my [expletive].”
Will was out of it . A doctor came in to talk to him, but he straight-up fell asleep.
He so carefully sipped ice water while the doctor told him he didn’t prep well enough, aka those laxatives did not finish the job. Oops.
Ben is a good friend. Stan Ben.
After making sure we knew the audible fart noise was a chair and not Will, it was time for him to get dressed.
“Ben, can you get me dressed?” He laughed.
“It’s like a regular Wednesday.”
“Can you help me with these, Ben?” He asked, holding up his Calvin Klein underwear.
Victory! Will got dressed, and Ben didn’t have to help.
His doctor was in the middle of explaining how abuse of the good stuff Will was on wasn’t good when he sort of dazedly asked, “I feel like I have to poop. Do I have to poop? Or was there a camera up my [expletive] giving me the sensation?”
Dr. Ala said the answer to both questions was yes. “Would you like to use the restroom?”
Will said no.
So, Will used the restroom.
Ala updated us on Will’s procedure, as well as his instructions for the day: do nothing. Will held onto Ben’s hair as they led him to his car.
“It worries me, because you just got out of the toilet. I didn’t hear the faucet on…” Ben said.
Will let us know it was just gas.
And then an awkward thing happened! No, not gas. A different thing.
Unbelievably, Will ran into a fan on the elevator back to his place. The fan asked for a picture. He also made sure to tell Will to smile, which Will was really good at, on account of the drugs.
Drugged Will was still a Will we should listen to.
Will said he felt normal as he wandered around his apartment, definitely not acting normal.
“There’s a certain amount of commitment and embarrassment involved in being healthy,” he somehow very wisely said. “You just gotta do it, man. There’s no other option.”
The results were good and bad.
A few days later, Dr. Ala called with Will’s results. While the doctor was examining Will, he found a pre-cancerous polyp that he removed.
A tissue examination revealed that the tissue was also pre-cancerous.
“95% of colon cancers arise from that type of polyp that was in your colon.”
What does that mean?
Basically, that Will did the right thing when he listened to her suggestion to get a colonoscopy.
“We know that screening and early detection saves lives, right? And even early detection of cancer can prolong, can save your life, and your livelihood. If you catch it early.”
You can watch the whole video here.
And as Dr. Ala said: The key is to overcome the fear of having something invasive done — even if you feel fine.
Now, Will will need to get a colonoscopy every 2-3 years, instead of every 10. But he’ll be alive to do it.
“Health is wealth,” he concluded.
