Will Smith, one of the most iconic blockbuster movie stars of our time, is the latest celebrity to give psychedelics a try and share a glowing review.
The actor was profiled in the latest issue of GQ, opening up about a how a “f–k-it 50s” mantra from Denzel Washington led to greater happiness, spiritual fulfillment, and over a dozen ayahuasca retreats in Peru.
“Throughout the years, I would always call Denzel. He’s a real sage,” Smith says of his friendship with the actor. “I was probably 48 or something like that and I called Denzel. He said, ‘Listen. You’ve got to think of it as the funky 40. Everybody’s 40s are funky.’ He said, ‘But just wait till you hit the f–k-it 50s.'”
“He said, ‘Just bear with your 40s.’ I stopped and I was like, ‘The funky 40s and the f–k-it 50s,'” Smith continues. “And that’s exactly what happened. It just became the f–k-it 50s, and I gave myself the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do.”
And apparently that freedom led to an even greater sense of freedom while under the influence of ayahuasca—a South American psychoactive brew made from the leaves of the Psychotriva viridis shrub and the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine.
Smith didn’t talk about it in article, but he did write about it in his upcoming memoir, Will, which hits bookshelves in November.
“This was my first tiny taste of freedom,” Smith writes of his first experience, in a brief snippet featured in GQ. “In my fifty plus years on this planet, this is the unparalleled greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”
The actor follows in the footsteps of Megan Fox, Miley Cyrus, and comedian Chelsea Handler, who also participated in ayahuasca ceremonies and spoke publicly about it.
Ayahuasca contains the active ingredients DMT (dimethyltryptamine) and MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor). When combined and consumed, these two ingredients create an altered state of awareness that can include hallucinations and a sense of euphoria. Or in the words in Fox, “It just goes straight into your soul, and it takes you to the psychological prison that you hold yourself in.”
“There was nothing glamorous about it, and it’s all a part of making you vulnerable, so you sort of surrender to the experience,” the actress told Jimmy Kimmel. She concluded that, in her experience, ayahuasca “surpasses talk therapy or hypnotherapy.”
Cyrus told Rolling Stone earlier this year “ayahuasca was definitely one of my favorite drugs I’ve ever done.”
We look forward to an in-depth look at Smith’s psychedelic healing experience when his memoir becomes available. But he made it clear to GQ that ayahuasca was just one part of a deliberate journey to evolve as a human being, not just a movie star. He rented a house in Utah to sit in solitude for 14 days, opened a stand-up show for Dave Chappelle, and began traveling without security for the first time.
“I totally opened myself up to what, I think, was a fresh sampling of the fruits of the human experience,” Smith says.
Meanwhile, the actor’s famous son, Jaden, also opened up to the media about his “journeys on psychedelics,” which heavily inspired his latest music.
