Will Smith Didn’t Sleep With Many Women Because He Hated the image of Black Men Sleeping Around

Will Smith was well aware that being a box office superstar and celebrity gave him a lot of sex appeal to his fans. The Oscar-winner acknowledged that many women probably would’ve wanted to attempt to seduce the star. But Smith made it a point not to sleep around as other celebrities might have. This was because he didn’t want to promote a negative reputation he felt black men had.

Will Smith once revealed he had sex with so many women that it made him sick

As can be the case with some teenagers, Smith once shared that he was very promiscuous during his teenage years. But this promiscuity stemmed from a broken heart the Bad Boys star admitted he was trying to mend in his memoir Will. A 16-year-old Smith was dating Melanie, a friend he moved into his household due to her own familial problems. Melanie would eventually cheat on Smith, sending the rapper down his early promiscuous path.

“I desperately need relief but as there is no pill for heartbreak, I resorted to the homeopathic remedies of shopping and rampant sexual intercourse,” he wrote. “Up until this point in my life, I had only had sex with one woman other than Melanie, but over the next few months, I went full ghetto hyena.”

But this particular method of healing backfired, as Smith soon realized this new lifestyle didn’t align with who he was.

“I had sex with so many women, and it was so constitutionally disagreeable to the core of my being, that I developed a psychosomatic reaction to having an orgasm,” he admitted. “It would literally make me gag and sometimes even vomit… In every case, though, I hoped to God this beautiful stranger would be ‘the one’ who would love me, who would make this pain go away, but invariably, there I was, retching and wretched. And the look in the eyes of the women even further deepened my agony.”

Will Smith didn’t have sex with multiple women because he didn’t want to promote the image of black men being promiscuous

In his later years, Smith would become one of the biggest stars of all time. His newfound celebrity would’ve given him access and the opportunity to form even more relationships with other women. But instead, during his rise to megastardom, Smith chose to settle down. First with ex-wife Sheree Zampino, and then with his current partner Jada Pinkett.

For Smith, it was important to avoid the temptation of sleeping around with multiple women. The actor admitted this was a bit of a struggle sometimes. But to Smith, it’s a struggle that was worth it if it meant shattering an image about black men that he hates.

“Tons of women would love to have sex with me,” he once said in a 2001 interview with ABC News. “I hate the image of black men as promiscuous and unable to control themselves sexually. I don’t like that image. So that’s why I specifically make it a point and struggle and fight to not put myself in those types of situations.”

Will Smith created his clean-cut image to cover up his insecurities

The megastar’s image has always been very important to him. But he admitted in his memoir that the clean-cut and cheerful public persona he created was crafted from tragedies he experienced in his past. Namely, watching his mother being abused by his father when he was a child, and feeling guilty for not interfering.

“I couldn’t shake the idea that I had failed my mother and I was somehow unworthy of love and care because of my cowardice,” he wrote. “And that [was] the beginnings of wanting to overachieve and wanting to create and wanting to win and wanting to build an external life that could somehow and hopefully cover the pain.”

This eventually led to the positive image many recognize him for.

“That buoyant, happy, joyful image [of the Fresh Prince] was painted over a core of a real lack of self-esteem and self-respect,” he continued.