Popular actor Will Smith once had to “sold everything” he owned in his hometown of Philadelphia as the IRS discovered the actor had not paid federal taxes for two years via TMZ.
It has been noted that the Hollywood actor spilled the beans on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast and reminisced the late ’80s, when he snagged his first Grammy for Best Rap Performance with “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” However, right at that high point, he also got a notice from the IRS.
Will reflected, “I was, like, ‘the IRS gets money from everybody, they don’t need mine’ — but they felt differently. So I didn’t pay taxes for two years and winning a Grammy and all that…so they just thought they should take my stuff.”
The 55-year-old actor previously opened up about his run-in with the IRS in a 2018 YouTube video. Smith revealed the unpaid taxes were the final blow after he was frivolously spending money on items, such as motorcycles, cars, and designer clothing, following the success of “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”
“We released our next album and it was, like, a flop. It was a tragedy, it went, like, double plastic,” he said in the video below. “I had spent most of my money, like, I spent all my money and I didn’t forget, but I didn’t pay the IRS. In my mind, I wasn’t trying to like, avoid taxes, I was just like, Ah, damn, they need they money.”
“The IRS took all that stuff,” he continued. “So, I was like, broke, broke, broke.”
Smith did not stay down for long. He met someone at The Arsenio Hall Show named Benny Medina, whom he refers to as “the real-life Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Medina later became popularly known as Jennifer Lopez’s manager.
