After he posted his apology video directed to Chris Rock, many people are wondering: Where is Will Smith now? An insider close to the King Richard actor explained the kind of work that Will has done since the infamous Oscar slap.
A source close to Will disclosed to People on August 1, 2022, that Will has been working hard to get in the right mindset after he slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony on March 27, 2022. “From a person who has never displayed anything like [the slap], he’s very aware that isn’t someone he will ever be again,” the source said. “He’s deeply remorseful, he is still doing a lot of work and he’s also human and made a mistake. He’s going to move forward with the same positivity that he always had.” The source continued, If you spend your life beating yourself up over one thing then it’s really hard to move forward as the positive, joyful person that you know you are. But he’s also in a very human place, recognizing that mistake and really looking at it and not brushing over it. He really needed to do the work, and that was very important to him.”
Will Smith posted the apology video on July 28 on his social media platforms. On the decision to post the video, the source said, “There was no rhyme or reason to it other than time had passed, work had been done, the same questions had been bubbling up and also people were really wanting to hear from him in other ways, not even about this.” The source added, “There was just a general feeling that it’s time and he’s at a place where he had more things he wanted to say,” the insider adds. “He has always had that direct connection to people on social media and he felt it was appropriate now to show up and answer some questions. And he read them and answered them honestly.” On what he’s been doing, the sourcedsaid, “He’s worked with a therapist, people saw him in India at an ashram but a lot of it has just been quietly at home.”
In the video, titled “It’s been a minute…,” Will revealed that he’s reached out to Chris, who rejected his request to talk because he’s just “not ready” yet. “I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk,” Smith said in a message to Rock. “I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out,” Will said. “So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.” Will also confessed that he didn’t realize “how many people” would be hurt by his actions. “I saw an interview that his mother did. That’s one of the things about that moment I didn’t realize, I wasn’t thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment,” he said. “So I want to apologize to Chris’s mother; I want to apologize to Chris’s family, specifically Tony Rock [Chris’s younger brother]. We had a great relationship. Tony Rock was my man. This is probably irreparable.”
A source told Jada, who Chris made the joke about at the Oscars, made Will apologize. “Jada has also been pushing Will to apologize because it has become this really dark cloud over her Red Table Talk series,” the insider said, adding that Will “never wanted to” apologize to Chris but knew the public had been waiting for “any mention of that moment.”
Image: Penguin Press.
For more about Will Smith, read his memoir, Will. The book, which was number one on The New York Times bestseller list, takes readers through Smith’s life, from his childhood in West Philadelphia and early rap career to his rise as one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars. The autobiography—which Oprah Winfrey described as “the best memoir I’ve ever read”—also explores a side of Smith’s life he’s never told before. “Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same,” the publisher’s description of the book reads. “Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world’s biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home.”
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