Will Smith looks back on the time he became a father for the first time.
On Saturday, the Oscar winner, 55, celebrated his oldest child Trey Smith’s 31st birthday with a heartfelt Instagram video in which he talked about his son’s arrival more than three decades ago.
Along with the clip, Will wrote a heartfelt caption: “Happy Birthday T-Ball. You are responsible for some of the greatest experiences of my life,” he began, adding, “You introduced me to the true definition of love! I met God in your eyes .”
Will’s video, which appeared to be footage from when he was creating the audiobook for his 2021 memoir. Want, the actor reflected on the day Trey was born before reciting lyrics from his 1997 hit “Just the Two of Us.”
“Willard Carroll Smith III was born on November 11, 1992. We called him Trey from birth because he was the third Willard Smith,” Will said at the start of the video.
Then he started with the lyrics from the first verse Big Willie style song, including the lyrics: “That night, I don’t think I blinked. As I slid out of bed, I crept up to your crib. I gently touched your head, felt my heart melt. Because I know I loved you more than I life. Then on my knees, and I begged the Lord please. Give me to be a good dad, everything he needs. Love, knowledge, discipline too. I pledge my life to you.”
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“It’s a public display of Trey’s birth and my introduction to fatherhood,” Will added in the video. “But that first night was far more emotionally tumultuous than my poetic lines suggest.”
The actor then explained that he was “overwhelmed” by the huge responsibility before him, and how he fell to his knees and begged God to help him be a “good dad”.
“Could I put food on the table and keep the lights on without fail? Would I be strong enough to defend myself against someone who came to kill him? It’s 3 in the morning, I’m on my knees, I’m just a little boy. I’ve never in my life wanted his dad so bad,” Will said in the clip.
“And then something clicked. Deep in a place where nothing had ever clicked before. A decision. A firm conviction. I wiped away the tears, stood up, gently touched Trey’s head,” he added. “And I knew there were only two possibilities, that I was going to be the best father this planet had ever seen. Or two, that I was going to be dead.”
Will Smith and Trey Smith appear at a Barnes and Noble signing in 2001.
Collection of Ron Galella via Getty
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Several friends and fans reacted to Will’s heartfelt Instagram message to his son in the comments section, including Chance the Rapper, Busta Rhymes and DJ Jazzy Jeff, the last of whom wrote, “Happy birthday nephew.”
“THIS IS SO POWERFUL!! I LOVE THIS,” Rhymes wrote.
Will shares Trey with ex-wife Sheree Zampino, who also posted a tribute to her son on Instagram. “Happy 31st birthday my love,” she wrote alongside a photo in which her son was in focus, while she, who was next to him, and another man in the background were slightly blurred.
Along with Trey, Emancipation the actor also shares two other children, son Jaden, 25, and daughter Willow, 23, with Jada Pinkett Smith.
Pinkett Smith, 52, also shared a birthday message for Will’s oldest child on Instagram, writing “Happy Birthday @treysmith0011!!!!” she wrote and added: “You are one of the most amazing human beings I know and I love you more than anything you can imagine😘❣️🎉”
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Source: HIS Education