WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WILL SMITH WAS CLOSE TO DECLARING BANKRUPTCY?
Believe it or not, the close shave with bankruptcy happened BEFORE Will Smith began his role on the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, with the precise ‘tax incident’ occurring between the years 1988-1989.
The ‘tax incident’ was Will Smith not paying enough taxes from his income. The IRS caught a sniff of this and decided to investigate further. They concluded he owed $2.8 million and took a bunch of his possessions. Essentially leaving him broke.
But what was going on prior to all of this? How did he end up in such a bad financial situation? Well. Will Smith and his good friend Jeffrey Townes, also known as Jazz from the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, created a rap group, along with Clarence Holmes – the beatboxer of the group.
They ended up having quite a bit of success and even won two Grammys in their short career together as a group. Which of course would lead to a bit of spending.
This helps explain the IRS situation. Thankfully for Will Smith, NBC reached out to him in 1990 with an offer of starring in the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’. Which he accepted, but the IRS also wanted 70% of his paycheck for the first three seasons. Ouch.
So there you have it. Pay your taxes, and don’t slap people on stage in front of the whole world…