Will Smith continues to struggle with his personal and professional life since the Oscars 2022 controversy. He slapped Chris Rock over a joke he made about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. He has been banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years. But do you know, way before this crisis, he went broke in the 1990s and rose from the ashes? Scroll below for an interesting throwback.
Way before shining as an actor, Will collaborated with his friend Jeffrey Allen Townes to form the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Their single “Parents Just Don’t Understand” in 1988 earned them their first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. Smith enjoyed his newfound success and began spending on luxury items, including cars, motorcycles, and clothes. He bit more than he could chew, and the consequences were dire as their next album flopped.
Will Smith had not paid his taxes and was labeled with a tax of $2.8 million by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). As a result, his possessions were seized, and his income was garnished.
“Being famous and broke is a sh—- combination because you’re still famous and people recognize you, but they recognize you while you’re sitting next to them on the bus,” he told CNBC.
Following the incident, Will had to borrow money from his drug dealer friend to pay his remaining debt. He shared at the Savoy Theatre in London in 2021, “I had to sell everything, and I knew whatever my new life was going to be I could feel it was going to be in Los Angeles. So I borrowed $10,000 from a friend of mine who was a purveyor of neighborhood pharmaceuticals.”
Luckily, he ended up meeting Benny Medina, the real-life Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. At a party at at Quincy Jones’ house, he auditioned for the role of The Fresh Prince in an attendance of actors, directors, and politicians.
In 1990, NBC signed a contract with Will Smith to create the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which saved his career. The show was successful and allowed him to build his empire again. Lucky, wasn’t he?
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