Will Smith tears up as he reveals ‘stark terror’ of becoming a first-time dad

Smith became a father at the age of 24, with first wife Sheree Fletcher

 

 

Will Smith teared up as he discussed the fear of becoming a father for the first time to his son Trey.

The actor, who has two children Jaden, 21, and Willow, 19, with wife Jada Pinkett Smith, also has a 27-year-old son from his first marriage to Sheree Fletcher.

Appearing on Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch series Red Table Talk, the actor opened up about bringing his first son home from the hospital after becoming a father at the age of 24.

“I think that was my first moment of the real weight of parenting,” Smith said.

“I brought him home, and I remember we put him in the bassinet and Sheree went to sleep and it was like stark terror,” he continued. “I couldn’t stop going and checking, I’ve got to go and make sure he’s breathing. I just cried so hard. It makes me teary right now.”

 

Asked what was going through his head in that moment, Smith wiped tears from his eyes as he admitted: “I can’t do it, I’m not the guy. I just knew I didn’t know nothing.

“See I thought the red couch wouldn’t get me like this,” he tearfully joked. “The red table always gets you like this.”

 

Smith continued: “My parents were in Philly, so they were on their way and I’m in here with my baby. It was like, ‘my father did this, when I’m a parent,’ but then I’m shaking him to make sure he’s breathing. It hit me how fragile parenting is and in that moment I could see all of the spectacular lessons that my father had instilled in me and I was like, there’s no way. I’m not that good.”

In another clip from the episode, Smith told his wife that his first divorce was the “ultimate failure” to him at the time, saying: “Divorcewas the worst thing in my adult life.”

Smith, who went on to marry Pinkett Smith in 1997, explained: “I’ve been hurt a lot in my adult life but I don’t think anything touches the failure of getting divorced from my two-year-old’s son’s mother.”