Like many of us, the pandemic took a toll on Will Smith’s mental and physical health. The actor updated fans on Instagram that, over quarantine, he was focused on getting into the best shape of his life — a journey that he plans to share on YouTube through a six-part docu-series.
While showcasing the actor’s workout regiment in a new trailer for Will Smith: The Best Shape Of My Life, Smith details underlying mental health problems that he faced while trying to lose 20 pounds in twenty weeks.
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“I thought I was getting into the best shape of my life, physically. But mentally, I was somewhere else. And I ended up discovering a whole lotta hidden things about myself,” he says in the trailer.
Smith reveals he came to realize he “didn’t know” much about himself in the process of working on his autobiography. Another scene of the Smith family at a round table revealed snippets of a conversation where Smith says, “that was the only time in my life that I ever considered suicide.”
The actor explains in a voiceover that beyond getting into shape, The Best Shape Of My Life will dive into his most vulnerable side. “What you’ve come to understand as Will Smith — the alien-annihilating MC, bigger-than-life movie star — is largely a construction. A carefully crafted and honed character designed to protect myself, to hide myself from the world. To hide the coward,” he says.
The series premieres on Youtube on November 8th. Check out the trailer below.