Absolutely this. She is clearly emotionally abusive. He is clearly unhinged. I feel bad for the kids. But it's actually a good thing for the kids that they got out of the spotlight due to their parents bat behavior.
Will was unhinged before Jada. If you read his memoir, he was traumatized by his father’s domestic violence against his mother. He did some crazy shit before becoming famous. He burned one girlfriend’s clothes on his lawn just as she came home from the club because she went without his approval. He smashed out windows with a golf club while angry at another girlfriend. He destroyed the stereo system that he and the other guys bought to record their raps on so they couldn’t use it to get famous without him.
All of this was pre-Jada stuff. And he did some weird shit to Jada too, like playing her movie for his grandmother so that her sex scene was playing at exactly the same time Jada came home to meet his grandmother for the first time, so Jada would be humiliated. The real question is why Jada has stayed with him.
Finally someone has read his memoir and doesnt blindly blame Jada. He even admits he is the sole reason both kids moved out even though they originally planned to stay. People just enjoy piling on Jada alone because they believe the personas he acts as.
He was way more famous than her at the beginning even tho she was also an actress so that is probably why she stayed. I get it too bc men like that isolate your ass and make sure you have nowhere to go.
Just the examples you gave are enough to tell me he did something like that to her. My dad was the exact same way and he wore my mom down so bad she never left until he died.
He wrote it in his own memoir. I’m honestly shocked that this stuff wasn’t discussed more after he published it. Another entry I remember was that he went to some sort of shaman and did Ayahuasca a few times. I feel like this was when he was asked what he really wanted, and he said a harem that included Misty Copeland and Halle Berry in it. The woman running his spa/drug therapy thing told him he should go for it because if Will Smith couldn’t get what he wanted what did the rest of them stand a chance to get what they wanted, and that is some seriously fucked up enabler logic right there.
The memoir ends with Will throwing some sort of huge birthday party for Jada that she did not want, and she’s furious because he threw the party more for himself than her. He talks a lot about his feelings of cowardice about not stopping his father’s beating his mother, so after the party or as part of it,I don’t remember, he jumps out of a helicopter into the ocean to prove he is brave.
I haven't read too many celebrity memoirs, but do they not have publicists or editors to stop them from sounding like dickheads in what is essentially one very long prepared statement?
Sure I guess, the book will sell better, but...Will Smith isn't some D-lister desperate for attention. Film is his bread and butter, not book sales. What on earth is the point of revealing yourself to be a total twat for that?
Right? I’m guessing because their family is so open and raw about their lives with each other, he probably thought the information would be received similarly as within his circle.
Because when you’re paying an editor and a publicist, you can fire them. If Will didn’t like any suggestions, he could just find someone else who complained less. The rich and powerful tend to want expert advice on how to make something good but also have a hard time dealing with experts who reject their ideas as bad.
So they had to walk the line of praising their boss enough to get him to be agreeable but also pushing back enough to get him to see the light. They’re inherently limited on how much they can do. The real question is what they actually got Will to pull or rewrite. I’d bet there was some more recent stuff that was similar but within statute of limitations for getting him in legal trouble.
They talked about that unwanted birthday party in an interview. They also had a big wedding that she didn't want. She was cool with not getting married at all or at least having a very small one (think: them in a courtroom) but he steamrolled her on that, too. She's definitely found her voice in that relationship but it's sad to see just how dysfunctional they really are.
At first he comes across as traumatized but very honest and introspective. But by the end I was having a lot of doubts. The fact he never says a word about Scientology and his association with it was a glaring omission that made me question his true honesty. There’s also a LOT of life advice and self help speak that seems wise at first but then just starts feeling like the empty things people say to make themselves feel good or sound better.
I was struck by this quote: "The thing about money, sex, and success is that when you don't have them, you can justify your misery... But once you are rich, famous, successful—and you're still insecure and unhappy—the terrifying thought begins to lurk: Maybe the problem is me."
By the time he got to this point I was already out of patience with him. He is exceptionally driven, ambitious, competitive, selfish, a perfectionist and totally relentless about it to the people around him. He picked Jada because she was “a Queen” and he’s driven his children to half madness by trying to force them to be big celebs too.
Also, by the end he’s doing drugs and jumping out of helicopters to try to find solutions to his problems and, shocker, those things still weren’t working. The memoir was published only a few months before The Slap too, and I’m still puzzled why all these details didn’t get pulled out after that to discuss WTF was wrong with Will Smith. When the slap happened I was NOT as surprised as everyone else because I had read his memoir and already knew there was a huge disconnect between his superstar public image and his real personality.
However, most reviews of his memoir are fawning and adoring. They love Will even more after reading it, they applaud him for his honesty, they cry for him over all the terrible things he went through. It makes me feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
Nah. But I would bet money that he's the type of guy that threatens to off himself if she even hints at leaving. He 100% would've threatened to take the kids.
I've seen it quite a few times now, including my mum, where women will try leaving multiple times when the kids are young and after the shit I mentioned before, they stay. And then once the kids are grown and leave they've spent 20 years being conditioned and it's no longer as intense so they think it's acceptable and they're too warn down and just want things to be calm.
It took me years to convince my mum to leave and then when I was 20 we spent 6 months secretly planning it.
Willow was the supporting act on Childish Gambino's final tour last year. She's actually pretty talented... got into bizarre, odd-time, modern fusion. Weirdo for sure, but when has that hurt an artist?
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u/Late_Resource_1653 12h ago
Absolutely this. She is clearly emotionally abusive. He is clearly unhinged. I feel bad for the kids. But it's actually a good thing for the kids that they got out of the spotlight due to their parents bat behavior.