In 2002, Will Smith received a Best Actor nomination for his role in the film “Ali.” It was a film Smith was extremely dedicated to as he told the BBC that same year that he trained non-stop for 12 months to play one of the greatest boxers in history. Explaining why he accepted the role, Smith said, “I knew he was a fighter, I knew he was an icon, and I knew he was important, but I didn’t know why. That was part of what inspired me to want to tell this story, because anyone who’s younger than me has no idea what Muhammad Ali had to endure in his life.”
However, before the winner for that category was even announced, both Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith got up and left the ceremony. Because Smith had put in so much heart and soul into the role, there was a lot of confusion as to why the Smiths had abruptly left that night. Some had thought that it had something to do with Denzel Washington winning the award for his role in “Training Day.” But, as Entertainment Weekly pointed out, it was for another reason. Their 18-month-old daughter Willow was taken to the hospital with a 103-degree fever at the time. The actor’s spokesperson even said the reason why Will left was because “being a father became his priority.” But that wasn’t the only time Will made Oscars headlines.
