Will Smith went through a terrifying moment while filming his new travel series and revealed that he almost drowned during a dive in the Arctic.
In “Pole to Pole”, the new adventure program by National Geographic, which premiered this month on Disney+ and Hulu, the 57-year-old actor embarks on a 100-day journey across seven continents.
During the challenge, Smith faced extreme physical trials, such as visiting the South and North Poles, and encountered several frightening situations along the way, including an underwater adventure that took an unexpected turn shortly after it began.
In a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show”, the actor told Jimmy Fallon about the terrifying incident he experienced during his time in the Arctic.
“We went diving at the North Pole, right? We dove under the ice,” he explained. “So you go under the ice, which can be up to three meters thick. We were down there about 35 meters away… It’s like an upside-down mountain range of ice, you know?”
“We dove and I started hearing, ‘Abort the dive! Abort the dive! Abort!’,” Smith recalled. “And I thought, ‘Oh no.’ So I tried to go up and hit the ice. I was like, ‘Easy, Will. Easy.’ You’re attached to a safety line and you have to pull yourself back to the hole, right? I grabbed it and accidentally took my mask off.”
Smith told the host that he put his mask back on, calmed down a bit, and drew laughter from the audience as he shared the promise he made in that moment of desperation.
“I thought, ‘If I get out of here, I’m only going to do Black things from now on,’” he joked. “I promise, Lord! Afro-American behavior from now on!”
According to him, shortly afterward he realized he was being pulled up by the safety line and finally felt safe again.
“When I realized I was okay, I just relaxed, looked around, and believe me, the sun was shining through the ice, and the feeling shifted from terror to something spiritual and beautiful,” he said. “And I just thought, ‘Whoever is up there, don’t let go of my rope!’”
Images: reproduction Wikimedia Commons, NBC, National Geographic. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
