*David Letterman’s new interview with Will Smith on season four of his Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” was filmed prior to Oscar slap in March.
The beginning of the interview makes clear to viewers that the interview was recorded before Smith violently assaulted Chris Rock at the Academy Awards for telling a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. At one point, the veteran actor tells Letterman that he has a fear of losing everything at any moment.
“Life is so exciting to me right now, because I can reach people differently than I’ve ever been able to reach people, largely because of my pain,” Smith explains.
He added: “I’m really ready to dive into my heart in a way that I think will be, hopefully, fulfilling for me and helpful for the human family.”
READ MORE: Will Smith and Family on ‘Spiritual Tour’ in India After Oscars Slap
He added, “You can’t protect your family, that’s not real. Protection and safety is an illusion. You have to learn to live with the reality that any moment, anything can be gone in one second. So with that reality, how can you be here? And how can you be joyful and be here?”
The actor also recalls being nine years old and watching his father beat up his mother. “And I didn’t do anything,” he said. “And that just left a traumatic impression of myself as a coward.”
Smith went on to say that he came to realize that “negativity cannot exist inside of a human body when you’re laughing,” so there were times when he used comedy as a “defense mechanism.”
“Ultimately ‘Will Smith’ became a symbol of joy and fun, and when I showed up, I wanted people to be happy,” he told Letterman, “because I found that when my household was that way, I felt safe.”
The fourth season of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” is now streaming on Netflix and includes episodes with Cardi B, Kevin Durant, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ryan Reynolds. Watch the teaser clip of Smith’s episode above.
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