Will Smith rarely cursed in his music at the urging of his grandma.

The 51-year-old star began writing his own songs when he was just 12 years old, and when his older relative found his “rap book”, rather than reprimand him for his use of profanity, she simply wrote a note in the journal urging him to be more “intelligent” in his choice of words.

Little curse words

Appearing on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’, the host said: “One thing you did that was fearless but maybe didn’t look that way to people, I first knew you as a hip-hop artiste and at a time when this was not what a lot of people were doing, your lyrics were very clean. That choice was a bigger choice than I think it probably looked to people.”

Will explained: “I was 12 years old and I started rapping. So, I had my rap book, and I was writing my stuff and I had all my little curse words in my rap book. And my grandmother found my rap book.

“And she just turned – she never said nothing. Turned to the back page and she said, ‘Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you’re as smart as we think you are. Love, Gigi.’ I read that, and I was like, ‘F**k.’”