How ‘Will’ do you know Smith? 10 things about the Oscar-winner’s life leading to the Chris Rock episode

With the spotlight on actor Will Smith, who has won the Oscar for Best Actor and is trending globally for entirely another reason altogether -slapping Chris Rock on the Academy stage- we get you a low-down on all things Will Smith:

1. THAT SLAP– The slap he landed on Chris Rock’s face had everyone surprised first, as they thought it was scripted. It all started when the comedian cracked a joke on Smith’s wife Jada’s alopecia, and right after he seemed amused, the actor walked up the stage and smacked Rock.

2. FIRST OSCAR– Smith has received his first ever Oscar for Best Actor for the film King Richard, a biographical sports drama on the father and coach of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.

3. WHEN JADA MET WILL– Smith is married to Jada Pinkett Smith. The two got hitched in 1997, and have two children together: Jaden and Willow. They met for the first time when she tried out for the role of his girlfriend on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith’s massively popular American sitcom.

4. JADA’S CONDITION WHICH ROCK MADE FUN OF– Jada had revealed in 2018 that she suffered from alopecia, which led to a hair loss problem, and first appeared with a shaved head in 2021.

5. OPEN MARRIAGE RUMOURS– There have always been speculations that the duo is in an open marriage. Addressing the same in 2013 in an interview with HuffPost live, Jada was quoted saying, “I think that people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another. But I’ve always told Will: ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be OK.’” Later, she again clarified in a lengthy Facebook post that month. “Here is how I will change my statement…Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so,” she wrote. “This does NOT mean we have an open relationship…this means we have a GROWN one.”

6. CHILDREN FOLLOW IN FOOTSTEPS– His son, Jaden (23), is a rapper and actor, and made his first big screen appearance as Smith’s reel-life son in The Pursuit of Happyness. Smith’s daughter, Willow (21) is a singer and actor. Jaden asked for emancipation at the age of 15 following the box office failure of their film After Earth.

7. ALSO A RAPPER– Smith is also a popular rapper, and in fact a recipient of three Grammys.

8. SUICIDAL THOUGHTS– Smith had contemplated suicide at the age of 13, as he revealed in his memoir, owing to the difficult situation at home.

9. WHEN WILL SHOOK A LEG IN BOLLYWOOD– His show, Will Smith’s Bucket List, had an Indian connection: dancing in a big budget Bollywood film FOGI. This is why he was seen shaking a leg in filmmaker Karan Johar’s production Student Of The Year 2.

10. CRAZY 50TH– For his 50th birthday Smith did something which made headlines: he leapt backward out of a helicopter and bungee-jumped into the Grand Canyon, being live-streamed on his YouTube channel.