Will Smith has recently opened up about that fateful Oscars night, explaining how the repercussions of his actions have affected him in the aftermath of the scandal.
On Monday night, the 54-year-old actor appeared on Trevor Noah's talk show, The Daily Show, where he revealed that he was filled with "rage" the night he got up on stage and slapped Chris Rock in what has now been slammed as one of the most controversial moments in awards show history.
Earlier this year, during the 94th Academy Awards, Smith got up on stage and struck Rock after the comedian made a joke about the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Referring to her baldness, the comedian said: "Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it."
Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, but this was something Rock allegedly wasn't aware of when he made the remark. In order to defend her honor, the actor stormed the stage and slapped Rock - much to the surprise of the audience as well as thousands of viewers at home.
"Oh, wow. Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me," Rock said after the actor accosted him. Once he was back in his seat, Smith shouted: "Keep my wife’s name out your f****** mouth."
The moment immediately became a hot talking point, with some wondering if it had been scripted. However, it was later confirmed that it was not, and Rock had fallen victim to Smith's rage that night.
Now, in a new interview on The Daily Show, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum has opened up about what prompted his off-the-cuff reaction.
"That was a horrific night, as you can imagine," he started, per Variety. "There’s many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it, you know?"
"I was going through something that night, you know?" He continued. "Not that that justifies my behavior at all... It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment.
"That is not who I want to be."
He also talked about the heartbreaking reaction from his nine-year-old nephew who asked him about the moment.
"My little nephew Dom is nine. He is the sweetest little boy. He had stayed up late to see his uncle Will and we are sitting in my kitchen and he is on my lap and he is holding the Oscar and he is just like, 'Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?'" Smith told Noah.
He then took out some tissues and looked at the host, joking, "Damn it. Why are you trying to Oprah me?"
"It was a mess, you know," the actor concluded.
The interview comes as one of a line-up during his press tour for his new movie Emancipation which is set to hit the big screen December 9.
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