No one is harder on Will Smith than Will Smith.
The Focus actor sat down with Esquire's Scott Raab and admitted, "I'm the type of person who is always going to be somewhat dissatisfied with myself."
"I'm never going to be smart enough. I'm never going to be a good enough father. I'm never going to be a good enough husband. I'm never going to be a good enough actor for myself. I just never will be, and I have to get comfortable with waking up every day and trying to move some little increment closer to the person I have always dreamed of being," he shared.
Smith also touched upon how After Earth's failure "was a valuable lesson" and "the most painful failure" in his career."
"Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth because my son [Jaden Smith] was involved…and I led him into it," he told the mag.
"After Earth comes out, I get the box-office numbers on Monday and I was devastated for about 24 minutes, and then my phone rang and I found out my father had cancer. That put it in perspective—viciously. And I went right downstairs and got on the treadmill. And I was on the treadmill for about 90 minutes."
"That Monday started the new phase of my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole. You can't win enough, you can't have enough money, you can't succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love."
During the lengthy, and candid, interview, Smith also revealed that Jaden only has "one pair of shoes" and "has refused to be a slave to money."
"He has three pair of pants and he has five shirts," the proud dad added. "He's like, 'I'm not gonna let myself need things in that way.' But I would like him to get another pair of shoes."