When Will, the autobiography of Will Smith made its debut in November 2021, it was an instant bestseller. Copies were flying off the shelves in bookstores, and like the top-ranking box office actor, the man himself, Will was breaking records and driving the traffic. While I still laugh at the Fresh Prince on TV, I was not a genuine rap fan, so I didn’t expect much from the book besides ratings and record sales.. And I’d heard the rumors of his open marriage and nonrestrictive parenting style. But I was pleasantly surprised at the way he reached into himself to reveal the layers of his experience, sharing his journey as an actor, a husband, a father, and an ever-evolving human being.

What I expected was the back story to “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and more jokes in the style of Fresh Prince. What I got was an expose on how he used making people laugh as a defense against bullying and an angry, alcoholic father. His desire to please drove every choice he made in an effort to keep himself and his family safe. While he loved and respected his father, and now calls him his hero, he also feared him. And like so many young men in his situation, he found solace with his mother and grandmother, and he quotes them throughout the book.

The chapters are titled with abstract nouns: fear, power, hope, pain, and ignorance. Despite choosing rap music over college, you can see his level of intelligence with titles like alchemy, fantasy, retreat, inferno and mutiny. You can see his understanding of the spiritual in titles such as devotion, surrender, purpose and love. Will Smith is more than a comic, more than a pretty face, more than an action hero. He even refers to the rise and fall of the hero’s journey, a basic element of classical literature, in the plot of his own life. Though he has had many box office successes, I have always thought he was underestimated as an actor when, though nominated, he didn’t receive an Oscar for Ali, Seven Pounds, or The Pursuit of Happyness.  These were roles that demanded total immersion, much more than just learning lines and body language and doing a few stunts.This, and his overall success an actor, a comedian, and a rapper (the first rapper ever to receive a Grammy, demanded WILL, Such a fitting title for the book!

As you read, you get to know other people in his life: Jazzy Jeff and his early crew, his first loves including, of course, Jada, and his unique relationship with his three children, Trey, Jaden and Willow. You see the men who influenced him most: his father, Willard Smith, Sr.; Quincy Jones, producer of The Fresh Prince of Bellaire; and James Avery, his uncle and father figure in that show who helped him hone his craft as an actor. But more importantly, you get to see how he evolved after his break with Jada through his travels, isolation, and psychotherapy. When asked by his therapist what he really wanted in life, he replied, “I want a harem.” As they explored the asexual possibilities of who he wanted to be a part of this community, he realized that he didn’t want that at all. Instead of a harem of women, what he wanted was one person who would love him all the time. This came after an over-the-top birthday celebration for Jada... expensive and ongoing, ever trying to please. Jada and his children had rejected being part of the Will Smith show. He was doing too much, and he wanted too much from them. (377-379)