The Hollywood star has largely stayed away from the limelight over the passed year following his much publicised row with comedian Chris Rock at last year's Oscars ceremony, which saw Smith strike Rock in the face on stage, after Rock had joked about Smith's wife's baldness.
Jada Pinkette Smith was diagnosed with alopecia in 2018, and Rock told the audience that he was excited to see her in the next GI Jane film. Smith was hit with a 10 year ban from all Academy events over his conduct.
Yesterday, Will Smith attended the African-American Film Choice Association Awards, where he accepted an award for his work in his latest film Emancipation.
Joined on stage by director Antoine Farqua, Will Smith spoke to the audience, telling them that he hopes that by telling the stories like Emancipation, there can be "just a subtle possibility to change a heart, or to change a mind".
"Emancipation was the individual most difficult film of my entire career", Smith revealed.
"I remember it was the second day of shooting and it's really difficult to transport a modern mind to that time period. It's difficult to imagine that level of inhumanity", the Fresh Prince of Bel Air star continued. "I remember it was the second day of shooting, you know 110 degrees, we're out there and I was in a scene with one of the white actors. We had our line and the actor decided to ad-lib".
"So we're doing the scene and I did my line and he did his line and then he ad-libbed and spat in the middle of my chest".
Jokingly pulling a shocked face, Smith also added, "If I had pearls on, I definitely would have clutched them".
It was at this point that Smtih added that he wanted to call the director for help, before realising that his character Peter would not have done so.
"So I sat there and I took a deep breath and we did take two and the actor felt that the ad-lib had gone well", Smith said. "So we do take two and I do my line, he does his line and spits in the middle of my chest again".
"I just held in that moment and there was a part of me hat was grateful, right, that I got to really understand".
Along with thanking the cast and crew, Smith finished off by thanking the audience for "doing what you do to keep our stories alive".
