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Will Smith on turning 50: I’d created this wonderful life but I felt trapped

Will Smith has said he was spurred on to make a bucket list after starting to feel trapped by his wealth and fame in middle age.

The Men In Black star celebrated his 50th birthday in September last year, and in February launched an online video series called Will Smith’s Bucket List.

Smith said the list was an attempt to escape fear and find “the freedom to do all of the things that I had put in my mind that I couldn’t do”.

Graham Norton Show – London
Will Smith and Naomi Scott on the Graham Norton Show (Isabel Infantes/PA)

He said a “huge part” of his childhood had been “marked by fear”.

“You can generate great things, you can succeed and win, but you can never really be happy if you’re scared,” he told the Graham Norton Show.

“I’d turned 50 and I’d created this wonderful life and this wonderful career, but I felt trapped by being Will Smith – I have kids so I can’t do that, or I’m famous so I can’t say that, or people look at me so I can’t behave like that – so part of the bucket list was to give myself the freedom to do all of the things that I had put in my mind that I couldn’t do.

Aladdin European Premiere – London
Will Smith at the premiere of Aladdin (Ian West/PA)

“I’m now being adventurous, and I’ve always wanted to be that.”

Smith appears as the Genie in British film-maker Guy Ritchie’s new imagining of 1992 animated classic Aladdin.

The Graham Norton Show airs at 10.30pm on Friday on BBC One.

Aladdin is released in UK cinemas on May 22.