Will Smith saw his career disappear during ayahuasca trip before Oscars controversy

“All of a sudden, I start seeing all of my money flying away, and my house is flying away and my career is gone away."

Will Smith in an interview with David Letterman confessed to having a premonition that his career would implode while tripping on ayahuasca.

“Once you drink it, you’re going to see yourself in a way you’ve never seen yourself,” the Academy Award winner for King Richard told Letterman during an episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. The episode was taped in advance of the Oscars on March 27.

Ayahuasca is a brew made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub and the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, according to HealthLine.

Originally used for religious purposes by ancient Amazonian tribes, ayahuasca is still regarded as a sacred beverage by some religious communities. Its medicinal options are now being explored.

Rather than a religious experience, though, Smith recounted how one ayahuasca sesh turned nightmarish.

“One of the experiences was the individual most hellish psychological experience of my life,” Smith relayed of the six-hour high, per NME.

After taking a bit of time to kick in, “all of a sudden, it’s like I start seeing all of my money flying away, and my house is flying away and my career is gone away,” the actor is seen telling Letterman in a YouTube clip posted by ET Canada.

Smith said he tried desperately to grab the money, but to no avail, as it continued to fly away and out of his reach.

That may be more severe than the fallout Smith has experienced since slapping presenter Chris Rock at this year’s Academy Awards after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

The veteran actor has proved a lightning rod for criticism since the incident, which many have labelled as a straight-up assault.

That includes nine-time Academy Awards emcee Billy Crystal who told Bob Costas during Back on the Record: “It was an assault,” adding, “I’ve had experiences. I hosted the Grammys three times, and I’ve been thrown things.”

Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, noting in advance of its disciplinary decision that he would “fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct.” Though his Oscar never appeared to be in peril, the academy has banned Smith from attending academy events for a decade.

His current experiences may put Smith’s bad ayahuasca trip to the test.

“When I came out of it, I realized that anything that happens in my life, I can handle it,” notes the interview clip.

“I can handle any person I lose, I can handle anything that goes wrong in my life, I can handle anything in my marriage. I can handle anything that this life has to offer me,” NME quotes the actor as saying.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Smith said his main takeaway was that “99 percent of the s— you worry about never happens. Ninety-nine percent of your pain and your misery is all self-generated; it’s not real.”

Smith certainly had other psychedelic experiences that have proved considerably more pleasant.

Travelling to Peru for a dozen ayahuasca rituals represented a truly life-changing experience, he told GQ last year.

“In my fifty-plus years on this planet, this is the unparalleled greatest feeling I’ve ever had,” he said of his first such consumption.

Smith relayed that using psychedelics in his “f— it 50s” helped set him on a better path toward peace, happiness and comfort. Now, his goal is to make his life about giving things away, rather than gathering them.