Will

Will Smith first meets Jada Pinkett on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He says he falls in love with her at first sight. Jada believes in The Importance of Parental Involvement. After she has fallen in love with Smith, she encourages him to go back to his first wife, Sheree, so that his son Trey can have his parents together. She is intentional throughout their marriage to make sure that Sheree and Trey are included as part of the family even though Sheree and Smith are no longer involved romantically. The family struggles at times to live in harmony, but including Trey and Sheree is a prime value for Jada.

Jada makes numerous sacrifices to make people happy. The first of these is when she agrees to marry Smith. Smith never pressures her into marriage. She does not believe in the institution, and she is unsure if monogamy is the best way for people to live their lives. Marriage means a lot to her mother, however, and so she agrees to marry Smith. She further compromises when Smith wants to purchase Her Lake. She does not want this property because she knows the amount of work it will entail, but she does it anyway for her husband. She proves that she is willing to make considerable sacrifices for things the people she loves deem important.

When Will uses his money and fame to create a documentary about Jada’s family background for her 40th birthday, Jada’s reaction illustrates the fact that Money and Fame Cannot Buy Happiness. For Jada, the film demonstrates Will’s need to show off his power and wealth rather than his love for her. She did not ask for nor want the film to be made, and she is uncomfortable with it. As a result, she and Will briefly separate, though they never intend to divorce. After Will has completed his inner journey, they come back together again. By the end of the memoir, they remain committed to each other.

Daddio, Smith’s father, embodies both the positive and negative aspects of The Importance of Parental Involvement. On the positive side, Smith credits Daddio with instilling him with discipline. The memoir opens with a story that illustrates Daddio’s harsh but effective lessons about hard work. Daddio decides he wants a new wall in his shop, and he insists that his two sons build it, brick by brick. The project takes a year of daily labor, and Daddio accepts neither excuses nor slacking. While the job proves difficult for the boys, it teaches them that through persistence and hard work, they can achieve great things. The discipline and work ethic Daddio taught him, Smith says, are what enabled him to become the biggest movie star in the world. For Smith, there is a direct line from parental involvement to becoming a star.

However, Daddio’s presence in Smith’s life is not always positive. Daddio is a harsh man with a strong temper, and he beats Smith’s mother. When Daddio knocks his wife unconscious, it shapes Smith as much as his lessons about hard work do. Smith spends most of his life feeling like a coward for not protecting his mother at that moment. He also develops his sense of humor and his need to please people as ways to manage Daddio’s moods so that he can prevent him from losing his temper and hurting his wife. While his father’s rage is harmful to Smith, by the end of Daddio’s life, Smith makes peace with the man and tells him that he did a good job as a parent.

Smith’s mother, whom he calls Mom-Mom, values education above all else. She believes that education saved her life, and Smith believes she may be the most educated Black woman in their city. The major battle she has with Smith is over his decision to postpone college. She thinks it is a bad idea, but eventually, Daddio convinces her to let Smith take a year to try to get his music career off the ground. She agrees, and when she calls the university to defer his enrollment, the dean agrees that it is a good decision. Her willingness to compromise with her son opens the door to his successful hip-hop career.

As with Daddio, Smith learns positive as well as negative lessons from Mom-Mom. As a child, he observes that the way she survives her husband’s physical abuse is by mentally disconnecting during the beatings so that Daddio damages only her body, not her soul. Between Mom-Mom’s dissociation and Daddio’s temper, Smith internalizes the belief that emotions are dangerous and should be blocked out. As an adult, he has to unlearn that habit so that he can understand and respond to the feelings and needs of his children and wife. Like Daddio, therefore, Mom-Mom embodies The Importance of Parental Involvement for both good and bad.

Gigi is Smith’s grandmother, who lived with the family as he grew up. She is a tender and caring influence in her grandson’s life. Gigi convinces Will to perform for the first time at a church service, and the look in her eyes compels him to perform for the rest of his life to see that same look on someone’s face. When he becomes an MC, Gigi’s reaction to his vulgar lyrics teaches Smith The Importance of Words and Stories. He changes the way he writes, refusing to use profanity or degrading language because his grandmother explained to him the way that his words can affect those who hear them. Smith aspires to be like his grandmother, who spent her entire life loving and serving people. Since, to Gigi, God is love, she does not fear death.