A Story of Will

By Samuel Moore-Sobel

“Some of the most impactful lessons I’ve ever received, I’ve had to learn in spite of myself,” Will Smith writes in his new memoir, Will. 

Candid and engaging throughout, Will was the perfect read over my holiday break. Even though Will Smith has been in the public eye for my entire life, his book revealed new parts of himself and his experience that made for a compelling read. 

Smith starts his book with a nod to his father, whom he calls “Daddio.” When Smith was only eleven, Daddio assigned Smith and his brother with the task of building “a new wall on the front of his shop.” The project lasted almost a year. “We did everything ourselves,” Smith writes. At first the job seemed impossible. But eventually, the wall was completed. Upon inspecting the finished work, Daddio said to his sons, “Now, don’t ya’ll ever tell me there’s something you can’t do.” 

This story is foundational to the rest of Will Smith’s story. No matter how you feel about Will Smith, his work ethic is undeniably strong. “For my entire
career, I have been absolutely relentless,” he writes. The lessons he learned while building the wall stayed with him. “And the secret to my success is as boring as it is unsurprising: You show up and you lay another brick,” Smith writes. 

Will Smith has laid a lot of bricks. His career success is astounding, especially considering the obstacles he faced along the way. He had a troubled childhood, watching his father mercilessly abuse his mother. He built a successful music career as a young adult yet didn’t know that he had to pay taxes on his earnings, which created financial difficulties as he entered his twenties. As an unexperienced actor, Smith obtained a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air through an impromptu audition in Quincy Jones’ living room (one of the most entertaining stories in the book). No matter what Smith faced, he kept going, until his metaphorical brick laying paid off. 

But his success came at a cost. His first marriage to Sheree broke down. His success (and all that came with it) caused turbulence in his second marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith. His relationships with his children suffered as they struggled to deliver under the weight of Smith’s expectations. “I was at the top of the mountain …Yet, everybody around me was miserable,” he writes. 

His success also did nothing to heal the deep childhood scars he carried with him. “My father was my hero,” he writes. Yet his father also hit Smith’s mother throughout his childhood. Smith blames himself for not doing more to protect his mother. He held himself responsible for failing to intervene in the abuse his mother endured. “I’ve always thought of myself as a coward,” he writes. He argues this sense of cowardice has fueled him to achieve, all in an effort “to hide the coward.” 

The latter half of the book contains Smith’s journey to discover himself. Who he was, and who does he want to be? Smith’s journey holds important lessons for us all and is an important reminder that wealth, fame, and success are no substitutes for the hard work it takes to achieve healing from our past.   

Yet, Smith’s trauma in some ways served him: it pushed him to succeed. It is clear that Will Smith could be thrown into almost any career and would still find a way to rise to the top. He credits his father in part for his drive. “Well, my father gave me my name, he gave me his name, and he gave me my greatest advantage in life: my ability to weather adversity. He gave me will.” A will that, for better or for worse, has helped Smith rise to seemingly unimaginable heights. 

Samuel Moore-Sobel is the author of Can You See My Scars? His book is available on Amazon. To read more of his work, visit www.samuelmoore-sobel.com.