Will Smith Isn’t Fat

An underwear shot revealing a little bit of a gut isn’t exactly the bravery we’re looking for

Scott Woods
LEVEL
Published in
6 min readMay 12, 2021

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Source: Will Smith / Instagram

Let’s get one thing clear right away: Will Smith isn’t fat.

Smith recently posted a couple of pics of himself on social media with no shirt on, exposing his lack of six-pack abs. It’s probably the first time he hasn’t had visible abs since the mid-90s when he made his sex symbol debut as the trigger-happy cop Mike Lowrey in Bad Boys. It appears that Smith, like millions of other people the world over, added on a few pounds during the pandemic, and I’m almost spot-on with the amount. But by the time you read this, he will have likely worked off what weight he did gain. That’s how not-fat Will Smith is.

Will Smith isn’t fat, and despite all of the praise for his realness and bravery about baring his body this way, somehow the idea that he could be overweight isn’t nearly as revolutionary to me as it should be. He’s been entertaining the world for the last 35 years, since before he left high school. He’s 52 years old. He is allowed to waltz into any cookout where “Summertime” is playing, looking any way he wants. Frankly, if it takes a global pandemic to get your first mini gut at 52, you could’ve kept those pics to yourself.

Will Smith isn’t fat, but if he’s truly not happy with how he looks or feels, that’s pretty much all that matters. Though when you project that “being fat sucks” vibe onto me — someone who no one questions is overweight, as if I’ve done something wrong with my life — that’s a different issue. This is why I don’t comment on people’s exercise regimens or before/after shots or anything related to their bodies. I only care about what you do with your body. I only care about who you help and what parts of the world you want to change with that body. If the public validation of your wellness progress is an important part of your process and you’re happy, awesome. Still, I won’t engage with it. But the second that becomes a projection of values, we have a problem. I’m not saying I don’t see bodies as sexy; I’m saying what’s sexy to me has less to do with how one looks than what they bring into the room as a person. Your body is not a person. Your body is what your person gets around in. How you feel about that vehicle is your business.

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Scott Woods
LEVEL
Writer for

Writer and poet holding down Columbus, Ohio