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Why would he do that at The Oscars? Understanding violent behaviour
I didn’t watch the Oscars on TV but like everyone else I woke up to the headline story: — not that Will Smith had won best actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard; but that he had slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s alopecia 20 minutes beforehand. There has been much written about the incident — some very critical of Smith and others defending and applauding his behaviour. What makes someone who appears to have life very much under control lose control in such a way at such a public and significant moment in their life? I think the Dynamic Maturational Model of attachment (DMM) can help us understand rather than judge.
Will Smith has recently released his biography in which he describes witnessing his father violently assault his mother aged 9 years; not the only time it happened but in his mind a defining moment as he berated himself for not trying to stop it. Despite the violence he remained close to his father and has only spoken of it since his father’s death. This process is likely to indicate psychological change — to speak the unspoken is a powerful shift and one that will likely be part of a reorganisation of attachment strategies and information processing.
To fully understand Will Smith’s attachment strategies I would need to interview him using the Adult…
