Will Smith is pinning his latest burst of daredevil energy on one person, and he is not shy about naming names. In a story that blends Hollywood mentorship with a whole lot of profanity, Smith says an intense, F-bomb-laced conversation with Denzel Washington nudged him toward taking on risky stunts and dangerous challenges. The exchange adds a new chapter to a friendship that has already shaped some of Smith’s biggest public highs and lowest lows.
Instead of a gentle pep talk, Smith describes a blunt, no-nonsense push from Washington that cut through his fears and ego at the same time. The result, he says, is a version of himself that is more willing to lean into physical danger, creative risk and emotional honesty, even when the cameras are rolling and the stakes are high.
The F-bomb chat that lit the fuse
When Will Smith tells the story, the turning point starts with him venting about pressure and expectations, then Denzel Washington dropping a string of F-bombs that flipped the script. Smith recalls Washington essentially telling him to stop overthinking, stop chasing approval and start doing exactly what he wants, even if that means putting himself in uncomfortable or dangerous situations. The way Smith frames it, that raw conversation, which he jokingly tags with the phrase “I Blame Denzel,” became the mental green light for him to sign on to a slate of high-risk challenges and stunts tied to his new projects, a shift he has described while promoting his latest show on late night and in other interviews linked to the original F-bomb story.
Smith leans into the comedy of it, but the details he shares make it clear this was not just friendly banter. He says Washington’s message was that once a person decides to be fully themselves, they have to accept everything that comes with that choice, including fear, criticism and physical risk. In Smith’s retelling, Washington’s language was unfiltered and direct, a style that stuck with him long after the call ended. He has repeated the “I Blame Denzel” line while walking audiences through how that conversation pushed him toward a dangerous new show and a series of challenges that he might have turned down in a more cautious phase of his career, a connection he has underlined in versions of the story that reference the same Blame Denzel moment.
From cautious star to “do what you wanna do” daredevil
What makes the conversation stand out is how clearly Smith links it to a change in his behavior. He has described a pattern where he would weigh every risk against his image, his box office history and the expectations that come with being a global star. After talking with Washington, he says he started approaching offers differently, especially ones that involved physically dangerous setups or emotionally raw material. Instead of asking whether a stunt or challenge might go wrong, he began asking whether it felt true to the person he wanted to be, a shift he credits directly to Washington’s insistence that he “decide” who he is and then live with the fallout, a theme that shows up in his account of the chat shared through Smith’s own explanation.
That mindset has become part of the pitch for his latest work, where he is not just acting but also taking on physically intense challenges that blur the line between performance and real danger. In one widely shared description of the conversation, Smith says Washington told him that once he chose to be himself, he would have to “take what comes with it,” a line he repeats as he talks about signing up for a dangerous show that asks him to confront fear head-on. He has framed this as a kind of late-career pivot, moving from the carefully curated action hero of earlier years to a version of Will Smith who is willing to be seen sweating, scared and occasionally out of control, a shift he ties back to that blunt “do what you wanna do” push captured in the But, Smith account of the call.
A friendship decades in the making
The idea that Denzel Washington could flip a switch in Will Smith’s head only makes sense when you look at how long their relationship has been building. Fans have traced their connection back to the early 1990s, when a young Smith was still best known for music and sitcom work and Washington was already an established leading man. Over time, their paths crossed at award shows, industry events and private gatherings, and what started as admiration turned into a bond built on mutual respect. One fan chronicle of their history describes the arc “from 1993 to 2022” as “The Legendary Friendship of Will Smith & Denzel Washington Is Breaking the Internet,” a phrase that captures how their dynamic has become a story in its own right and is highlighted in a Legendary Friendship post.
Another fan tribute frames their connection as “Y1999 ✨ Denzel Washington & Will Smith – A Journey of Friendship and Success,” calling it “a testament to respect, support, and enduring” ties between two of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. That language might be coming from outside observers, but it lines up with how both men talk about each other in public, with Smith often describing Washington as a mentor and Washington speaking about Smith with a mix of concern and pride. The “Journey of Friendship and Success” framing, shared in a Journey of Friendship post, helps explain why a single phone call between them can carry enough weight to send Smith scrambling up cliffs and into high-risk scenarios for a global audience.
“At your highest moment” and the shadow of the Oscars
The F-bomb conversation about dangerous challenges is not the first time Denzel Washington’s words have marked a turning point in Will Smith’s life. During the chaotic night of the Oscars incident, Smith later revealed that Washington pulled him aside and offered a warning that has since become one of the most quoted lines of that entire saga. Smith said Washington told him, “At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you,” a sentence that landed with extra force because it came in the middle of a career-defining, and reputation-shaking, evening. That quote was captured on video and shared widely, including in a clip where the line is repeated and highlighted as “Denzel said to me a few minutes ago at your highest moment, be careful that’s when the devil comes for you,” which appears in a Mar post.
Washington later spoke about that moment, explaining that he and others reached out to Smith in the aftermath and tried to surround him with what he called a “world of love and kindness.” In recounting the exchange, Smith again quoted Washington’s warning about the devil coming at a person’s highest moment, underscoring how deeply that sentence cut through the noise of the night. The follow up from Washington, who talked about praying with Smith and urging him to think about his future, was detailed in coverage that quoted both men and noted that Smith resigned from the Academy as part of the fallout, context that appears in a Denzel interview. Put next to the more recent F-bomb pep talk, it paints a picture of Washington as the person who shows up for Smith both when he is flying high and when he is crashing hard.
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