Will Smith says he had an extreme response to having his heart broken for the first time: He developed a “psychosomatic reaction” to having an orgasm.
In his new memoir, Will, the King Richard star recalls going into a tailspin after the end of his first serious relationship, according to excerpts and descriptions of the book published on multiple news sites.
Over the course of the book, Will writes about an early relationship with a woman named Melanie, who he describes as “beautiful” with a “beguiling mixture of insecurity and quirkiness surrounding a simmering core of artistic brilliance”.
He says in the memoir that Melanie had a difficult childhood and lived with her aunt because her mother was in prison for murdering her father.
However, after Melanie’s aunt kicked her out, Will reportedly convinced his parents to let her stay at his house.
In his memoir, Will describes says Melanie was “the centre” of his life and admits he became preoccupied with “healing the pain of her trauma”. But the relationship wasn’t destined to last.
According to various reports about the book’s contents, Will claims Melanie cheated on him while he was on tour and that he reacted by engaging in indiscriminate sex.
“I desperately need relief but as there is no pill for heartbreak, I resorted to the homeopathic remedies of shopping and rampant sexual intercourse,” Will writes.
He adds: “Up until this point in my life, I had only had sex with one woman other than Melanie, but over the next few months, I went full ghetto hyena.”
The “rampant” sex led to an unusual side effect: A “psychosomatic reaction” to having an orgasm, according to the former Fresh Prince star.
“I had sex with so many women, and it was so constitutionally disagreeable to the core of my being, that I developed a psychosomatic reaction to having an orgasm,” he writes. “It would literally make me gag and sometimes even vomit.”
Will said he was actually looking for love in these encounters.
“In every case, though, I hoped to God this beautiful stranger would be ‘the one’ who would love me, who would make this pain go away,” he writes. “But invariably, there I was, retching and wretched. And the look in the eyes of the women even further deepened my agony.”
Although Will says he briefly reconciled with his first love, it apparently wasn’t meant to be.
The actor describes that period as a time of “resentment, rage, and destruction.” According to descriptions of his book, he remembers gathering all the things he’d ever bought Melanie and making her watch as he set them on fire.