It’s usually no surprise to learn about a Hollywood celebrity’s addiction to drugs and alcohol, but not when it’s someone like A-list actor Will Smith.
His career might not be what it used to be because he was nicknamed Mr. July 4th because six years in a row he had a movie open on that weekend. Now? Not such a huge box-office draw any longer.
And it might have to do with his apparent alcoholism that he opened up about with recently.
Becoming famous and then using drugs seems like just about every actor’s modus operandi. Some get clean; some don’t. Some tragically die of a drug overdose like Chris Farley, River Phoenix and John Belushi are amongst the most notable actors.
Other times, however, actors fight off the addiction demons and get clean. Brad Pitt is a really good example of this. Several years ago, after an alleged physical altercation with his eldest adopted son and Angelina Jolie on a private jet, Pitt decided he had enough of hitting the bottle.
He’s been sober for over a year and a half now, but at one point Pitt claims he was drinking two 750ml bottles of whiskey per day. It’s not only amazing he’s still alive after that kind of alcohol abuse, it’s also amazing he still looks the way he does.
That goes for Will Smith too. Did you know the “Men in Black” star struggled with drugs and alcohol? It was a tad shocking to hear about. In ET’s exclusive sneak peek at the upcoming “Red Table Talk” episode, Jada confronts her husband about his relationship with alcohol.
“How often are you drinking alcohol?” Jada Pinkett-Smith asks, to which Will replies, “That’s my personal business…I respect that it’s your show, but at the end of the day it’s a house we share.”
She says, “I know. I get it.” The family hounded Smith for having too much fun at his son Jaden’s 21st birthday party.
But Smith has been struggling for a while.
In his Facebook Watch series, “Bucket List,” the entertainer got real about alcohol use while training for a half-marathon back in March.
Smith candidly admitted, “I think of all the bucket lists, this is the one I’m most concerned about. Like, in my deepest honesty with myself, I really am not sure if I can run 13 miles. Being this far out of shape is kind of a little bit new for me. I didn’t drink for over a decade. During my rise as a movie star, I was, like, wildly disciplined, so being in this place in my life, even something as simple as taking my shirt off while I’m out of shape, like, you know, this for me now allowing myself to be seen less than optimally is new.”
This was probably “Independence Day” to “Bad Boys 2,” which features a slew of box-office hits solidifying him as one of the biggest box-office stars in that ten-year period.
Maybe it’s that in his older age he’s starting to see his career slip a little so he’s occupying his time in that way.
Jada added, “Alcoholism and drug addiction runs through my family and I’ve had my own addiction that I’ve had to get over. It’s just made me realize that really great people just get caught up. When I was younger, I definitely think I had a sex addiction of some kind… everything could be fixed by sex. Then I became a gym addict.”
Maybe the Smith family should keep each other in check.