Smith apologized for hitting Rock and said he would “accept and respect the Academy’s decision.”
The actor was seen out in public for the first time since the Oscars “slap-gate”. He was photographed after landing in a private airport in Mumbai, dressed casually in a white t-shirt, dark gray shorts and a pair of Nike sneakers. He was all smiles and taking photos with fans after he touched down in the South Asian country.
Smith, who won the award for Best Actor the night of the slap, reportedly appeared “happy and relaxed” as he took his time to chat to security members and unloaded his luggage.
Smith is reportedly in India to meet spiritual leader Sadhguru, who had met previously with the Smith family in 2020.
“I have been following him for a while. He wrote a wonderful book called ‘Inner Engineering.’ I want my family to meet spiritual people, to start interacting with people who are not hooked on the material world," said Smith in 2020.
Will Smith’s daughter Willow said that Sadghuru helped her through an “existential crisis” during his visit with the family.
Sadghuru, 65, whose real name is Jaggi Vasudev, owns an ashram in India and started his own non-profit spiritual foundation: the Isha Foundation.
Smith’s visit to see his guru may not come as a shocker post-slapgate. Pinkett Smith released a written statement on how the Smith family has been handling the Oscars incident.
“Considering all that has happened in the last few weeks, the Smith family has been focusing on deep healing. Some of the discoveries around our healing will be shared at the table when the time calls,” she wrote, referring to her talk show “Red Table Talk” on Facebook.
Since the Oscars controversy, some of Smith’s projects have been put on hold or canceled, including the sequel to his 2017 sci-fi action thriller “Bright” on Netflix. His National Geographic nature series “Pole to Pole,” has also been put on the back burner until fall of 2022.
Hollywood insiders are suspecting that slapgate further stressed the Smiths, who have allegedly already been experiencing issues within their marriage. “There have been problems for years, but they’re barely speaking right now,” said one source who is close to the couple.
“If they were to split, Will has a fortune of $350 million that Jada would be entitled to under California law,” the source added. “It could be one of the ugliest divorces in showbiz history and drag on longer than Angelina [Jolie] and Brad [Pitt’s] did.”
Rock has not publicly responded to the Oscars incident.