Will Smith opened up about his mental health, revealing in a trailer for his upcoming YouTube docuseries that he once contemplated suicide.
The "Aladdin" actor, 53, has been on a challenging fitness journey to lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks. Smith said the quest not only pushed him to get back into shape, but it also helped him discover "a whole lot of hidden things about myself."
"This began as a journey to get into the best shape of my life. When I started this show I thought I was getting into the best shape of my life, physically. But mentally, I was somewhere else," he said in a trailer released Friday for "Will Smith: The Best Shape Of My Life."
"Now I'm about to show the world, how little I know about myself. ... 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."
In the trailer, Smith is seen working out and training. One clip shows him sitting at a table surrounded by his family.
"That was the only time in my life that I ever considered suicide," he said. The actor did not provide context after making the statement.
In the preview, Smith also talked about writing his upcoming memoir "Will." He said the book was "exposing a lot of things" about his life including "so many things that people don't know about me."
The book is available for pre-order and will be released on Nov. 9. The docuseries debuts on YouTube Nov. 8.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
