Sharjah – American actor and rapper Will Smith received a welcome fit for royalty the moment he stepped into the Sharjah Expo Centre for his special appearance at the 2025 Sharjah International Book Fair.
Long before he walked onto the stage, the entire venue was alive with energy.
Fans poured in early, packing every seat, as they waited with bated breath to meet the Hollywood icon they had admired for decades.
What began as a star-struck moment on Friday, 14 November 2025, quickly evolved into an evening of reflection, connection, and shared humanity as Smith shared his story with the host, Anas Bukhash.
“The Bad Boys” star spoke candidly about purpose, spirituality, and the continuous act of reinventing oneself.
Smith’s reflection on adversity was one of the most profound turns in the conversation.
“There is nothing like difficulty to craft you into the person that you want to be.
He shared that the past few years had forced him to confront the relationship between hardship and transformation.
“Suffering is an absolute blessing… to craft your spirit and your energy and to learn about the personality of God.”
As the conversation shifted to how he sees his own journey, Bukhash invited Smith to reflect on whether he felt his story had been told well.
“I think that I’m in the process of learning how to tell my story more effectively,” he said.
“When I was writing my book, a few years ago, I discovered how much of my story was made up.”
The audience grew quiet as Smith described the humbling realisation that the narratives we carry are often blurred memories, stitched together.
He encouraged everyone to write their own story, calling it “such an enlightening process.”
Building on that reflection, Bukhash asked the question many were likely thinking: has achieving what most people can only dream of brought Smith happiness?
“I started with the belief that being rich and famous would make me happy. I can tell you unequivocally that it is untrue,” Smith said.
“Success in the material world is utterly incapable of making you happy.”
Instead, meaning comes from service.
“The only thing that would ever make me happy is knowing that my gifts help others on their journey.”
Asked how young people can remain authentic amid the pressure of social media, Smith warned of the mental toxicity that comes with constant exposure.
“How can you eat cake and candy all day, every day, and be healthy?… Sometimes you have to disconnect from social media. Spend time in nature, spend time reading, versus scrolling… because social media can poison your mind.”
Still on the subject of online pressures, Smith described the painful yet necessary work of reclaiming self-esteem from public approval.
“For me, the past few years have been about taking my self-esteem back from the world. It hasn’t been easy.
“I was used to being approved of, and suddenly I found myself on the receiving end of disapproval.
“Reclaiming my sense of self in the midst of that has been challenging.
“But I’ve realised it’s the only path to real happiness is being in touch with what you truly want and how you truly see yourself.”
The conversation then turned to the stories his children might one day tell about him.
“As a parent, I always felt it was my responsibility to keep my kids on the edge of fear… to do that thing that they are always scared to do.
“Fear,” he said, “is not the enemy… I think fear is part of being human, but we need to learn how to do it anyway… learn how to just do it scared.
“My grandmother used to say, ‘God has placed the greatest things in life on the other side of your worst fears.”’
Despite decades of global influence, Smith believes his most meaningful achievement is still ahead.
“There is a spiritual blind spot that I have that I must still fill,” he said.
“I’m itching with an understanding that there is something that I’m supposed to be learning.”
Smith described his current personal chapter through a metaphor: the caterpillar dissolving in the cocoon.
“I am in the part of the story where the caterpillar dissolves and goes into the cocoon, and inside the cocoon, the caterpillar actually dies and turns into liquid.
“And from the death of the caterpillar, the butterfly forms.
“It’s not something that the caterpillar had any control over.
“It took absolute faith in the way of God, that from that liquid, you will take all of your strength to break out of the chrysalis and become the butterfly that you were meant to be.”
The 44th Sharjah International Book Fair is currently underway at the Sharjah Expo Centre until Sunday, November 16.
For more information, visit www.sibf.com.
