Will Smith Explains 'Horrific Night' After Chris Rock Oscars Slap, 'It's Hard'

A new award season may be just around the corner, but Will Smith is still haunted by the 2022 Oscars ceremony where he slapped Chris Rock.

Smith, 54, opened up about the infamous moment Monday night during an interview on "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah."

When Rock, 57, made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head at the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith admitted that he "reacted emotionally" to the punchline.

"There's many nuances and complexities to it, you know, but at the end of the day, I just — I lost it," Smith told Noah.

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" alum claimed past trauma affected him the night he slapped Rock. "It was a lot of things," Smith said.

"It was the little boy watching his mother beat up his father. All of that bubbled up in that moment. You know, just, that's not who I want to be. I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time."

While Noah described the Oscars as the "best and worst" night of Smith's life, the actor mostly has a negative association with the evening. "Yeah, that was a horrific night, as you can imagine," Smith told Noah.

The "Bad Boys" star noted that others are often unaware of another's personal issues. "I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody's going through," he explained.

"You just don't know what's going on with people. And I was going through something that night. Not that that justifies my behavior at all."

Smith went on to suggest that kindness may be the solution when addressing a stranger.

"We just got to be nice to each other, man," Smith added. "It's hard. And I guess the thing that's the most painful for me is I took my heart, and I made it hard for other people."

Even though Smith hoped he would always keep a positive mentality, the infamous slap taught him an important lesson. "I've always wanted to be Superman," he shared.

"I've always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress, you know. And I had to humble down and realize that I'm a flawed human."

Although Smith won the award for best actor at the 2022 Oscars, slapping Rock on live television resulted in Smith resigning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The "Emancipation" star was later banned from attending Academy events for a decade.