Will Smith Discusses Dad’s Violent Past In Emotional Red Table Talk Takeover

Will Smith has opened up about his troubled relationship with his father, during a candid episode of Red Table Talk.

The actor revealed that much of his outgoing personality that we see today, was orchestrated in a bid to keep his abusive father entertained, so he would stop hurting his family.

Smith spoke to clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula about his relationship with his father, and how it affected him during his rise to fame on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Watch Will speaking about his father here:

‘My father was violent in my house, so part of the whole creation of Will Smith, the joking, the fun, the silliness, was to make sure that my father was entertained enough not to hurt my mother, or anybody else in the house,’ Will explained.

‘I would perform and dance and tell jokes people laughing and people having fun was my defence mechanism, but I realised the other side of it was if I cut you bad enough, you wouldn’t be able to respond.’

However, most of the conversation was dominated by the topic of his very public, and fortunately now-finished feud with Bel-Air co-star Janet Hubert.

Will said been had been troubled by the ‘war of words,’ between he and Hubert for ‘more than 30 years,’ until the pair recently managed to hash it out, ahead of the show’s recent reunion.

You can watch him discussing his feud with Janet here:

‘My painful situation was around the Fresh Prince. I had a feud, a war of words that I’d been in with Janet that I never thought would get resolved,’ he said.

‘I really couldn’t see myself celebrating [the reunion] without really dealing with this.’

Janet, who played Smith’s Aunt Viv for just three seasons, left the show over ‘creative differences’ in 1993, and was later replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid.

‘We never publicly talk about Janet and what happened, and for me it felt like I couldn’t celebrate 30 years of Fresh Prince without finding a way to celebrate Janet,’ Will explained, in the HBO 30th anniversary special, which aired on Wednesday, November 18.

‘So, she agreed to sit down and have a conversation with me, and Janet and I saw one another for the first time in 27 years yesterday.’

The show then cut to Will and Janet talking, as Janet explained that contrary to reports at the time, she had not been fired from the show, and actually left on her own terms.