Will Smith Says ‘You Can’t Protect Your Family’ in Pre-Oscars Interview: ‘Safety Is an Illusion’

usmagazine.com:

A prescient thought? Will Smith opened up about protecting his family in an interview that was taped before his headline-making appearance at the 2022 Oscars.The Ali star, 53, detailed the realizations that led to his two-year break from acting in an episode from season 4 of Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, which premiered on Friday, May 20.“I wasn’t miserable as much as everything kind of lost its luster,” the Oscar winner explained. “I think it’s the natural journey of humanity when we realize that the material world is completely, utterly and totally incapable of sustaining our happiness.”When host David Letterman clarified that Smith meant nothing could give him satisfaction “beyond the essentials of protecting yourself and your family,” the Philadelphia native replied: “You can’t protect your family, right?

That’s not real.”The “Miami” rapper went on to say that he’d learned to acknowledge the fact that all his success could instantly disappear. “Protection and safety is an illusion,” he added. “You have to learn to live with the reality that [at] 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?”A disclaimer at the beginning of the episode noted that it was filmed before the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony in March, where Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian, 57, made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hair.

When the Men in Black star accepted his best actor trophy later in the evening, he opened his speech with a comment about how Richard Williams was a “fierce defender of his family.” (Smith played Williams, now 80, in King Richard.)“In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by