By Tonya Mosley, National Public Radio, November 10, 2021
The world knows Will Smith as a musician, a comedian and blockbuster movie star — perhaps even the most bankable star in the world. But in his new memoir, calledWill, Smith explores another identity, one that has fueled his unwavering work ethic: that of a coward.
Smith says that when he was 9, he stood by, watching helplessly as his father beat his mother. It was a moment that shaped his identity.
"I couldn't shake the idea that I had failed my mother and I was somehow unworthy of love and care because of my cowardice," he says. "And that [was] the beginnings of wanting to overachieve and wanting to create and wanting to win and wanting to build an external life that could somehow and hopefully cover the pain."
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