Will Smith: I was 'going through something' the night of Oscars slap

Will Smith opened up about what led him to slap Chris Rock at the Oscars.

The 54-year-old actor recently appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, which marked the first time being interviewed since the incident.

"I was going through something that night, you know?” the Focus star said recalling the “horrific night” of the Academy Awards.

Smith went on to explain that his behavior cannot be “justified” by any means, adding that there were “many nuances and complexities to it,” and he just “lost it” at the moment.

Earlier this year, the Emancipation actor received criticism en masse after he walked up to the Oscars stage during Rock’s gig and slapped him for joking about his wife, Jada’s hair loss condition.

He explained to Noah that the slap was the product of a “rage that had been bottled for a really long time.”

Smith recalled that his nine-year-old nephew also confronted him about his behavior which made him feel worse about the situation.

"It was a lot of things,” the Men in Black actor spoke on the background of the slap. “It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That's not who I want to be."

Smith has been banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years as a result of his assault.