Will Smith and his Mom, Caroline Smith

When Will first started pursuing music and acting, his mom had different plans for him after he graduated from Overbrook High School in Philly.

Though it’s been reported by many media outlets, it’s actually untrue that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He never even applied to the school, although he was admitted to a “pre-engineering program” there. According to Smith, “My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college.”

He and his mother are extremely close and she ultimately respected his decision to follow his dream…she supported him 100% after understanding that was his true passion.
[Source: Essence]