Will Smith. Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Will Smith is opening up about a supernatural experience he had nearly 30 years ago.
Smith and Bad Boys: Ride or Die costar Martin Lawrence took part in a game of “True Confessions” on the Tuesday, June 4, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, in which the guests and host Jimmy Fallon read out supposedly true facts about themselves and the others had to guess whether they were telling the truth.
When it came to Smith’s turn, the King Richard actor read out a statement that said, “I once had to emergency check out of a hotel because of a ghost,” to much laughter from the studio audience.
While Smith, 55, attempted to keep a straight face, Fallon, 49, seemed skeptical about the actor’s story.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are returning for the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise. The duo starred in the first buddy cop film alongside Téa Leoni back in 1995 and returned to the big screen for the 2003 sequel. Nearly two decades later, Lawrence and Smith reprised their respective roles as Marcus Burnett […]
“I mean, when was this?” Fallon asked him, to which Smith responded: “This was probably 27 years ago.”
Fallon then pressed for more details about what happened that made the actor check out.
“The ghost urinated in my friend’s toilet,” Smith explained to a suspicious Fallon and Lawrence. “And cleared all of his messages from his phone.”
“It was the Lanesborough Hotel in London,” Smith added.
“It was a British ghost?” Fallon asked, but Smith said he and his friend “didn’t hear it talk.”
“We assumed it was British,” said the actor. “But it was scary enough for us to check out of the hotel.”
When Fallon asked Smith if he believes in ghosts, the Oscar winner responded: “I believe that there are things that you don’t understand, Jimmy.”
Fallon and Lawrence, 59, then conferred over whether Smith was telling the truth, with Lawrence siding with his longtime friend and costar.
“Will, his life has been an adventure,” said the actor. “I gotta go with my ride or die — I say true.”
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in ‘Bad Boys for Life’. Columbia Pictures/Moviestore/Shutterstock
Smith then confirmed the story was “100% true” much to the surprise of Lawrence and Fallon.
Earlier in the game, Lawrence confirmed he was approached to star in the Rush Hour franchise with Jackie Chan but turned it down. Chris Tucker eventually landed the part.
“[Jackie] did my show, so we talked somewhere in between there,” said Lawrence. “And then we had a dinner at Mr Chow’s,” he added, to which a suspicious Smith responded: “[He’s] Chinese so you took him to Mr Chow’s?”
When Fallon asked why he didn’t want to do the movie, Lawrence said: “Wasn’t enough money.”
Fallon guessed the story was false, while Smith correctly guessed his costar was telling the truth.
“I was happy for Chris,” Lawrence said of Tucker eventually landing the part of Detective James Carter. “That was what it was supposed to be — Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And they brought [out] a beautiful franchise with Rush Hour.”