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Will Smith had a vision he’d lose his career before Oscars slap

In an interview with David Letterman recorded before the Oscars, Will Smith describes a terrifying vision in which he saw himself losing his career

Will Smith in Collateral Beauty

A recent episode of David Letterman’s Netflix interview series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction reveals that Will Smith had a vision that he would lose his career. The episode was recorded before the 2022 Oscar ceremony, in which Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock after he made an offensive joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

During a two-year acting break, Smith vacationed to Peru and went on 14 ayahuasca journeys. The actor said, “One of the experiences was the individual most hellish psychological experience of my life.”

“I’m drinking, I’m sitting there, and then, all of a sudden, it’s like I start seeing all of my money flying away and my house is flying away, and my career is gone,” Smith said of the vision (via Insider). “And I’m trying to grab for my money and my career. My whole life is getting destroyed…I’m in there and I’m wanting to vomit and all of that. And I hear a voice saying, ‘This is what the fuck it is. This is what the fuck life is. And I’m going, ‘Oh shit.'”

 

Smith said he then heard his daughter Willow calling out to him, “Daddy, help me! Daddy! How come you won’t help me?” And I’m like, ‘I don’t see you, baby.’ The shaman is like, ‘Relax, relax, relax.’ And she tells me, ‘Sit up.’ Then slowly, I stopped caring about my money, I just wanted to get to Willow. I stopped caring about my house, about my career. And I get to the point where I settled down and the voice is still at 100%, I still hear Willow screaming. My money is still flying away, but I’m going [exhales] and I’m totally calm even though there’s hell going on in my mind.”

Smith’s vision taught him that “anything that happens in my life, I can handle it. I can handle any person I lose, I can handle anything that goes wrong in my life, I can handle anything in my marriage, I can handle anything that this life has to offer me.”

There has been much debate since the ceremony in March about how the incident will affect Smith’s career, if at all. Smith has already been sanctioned by the Academy. 

The Oscars this year certainly gave us more drama than we bargained for, check out our guide to the best drama movies.