Will Smith’s reentry to social media was a strong one. Over the weekend, he and son Trey Smith posted one of the most relatable videos I’ve seen in a long time to Instagram. It was a video account of their interaction with an uninvited tarantula casually strolling across their wooden floors. After Will got enough evidence footage to show the insurance company why the house had to be burned to the ground, he told Trey to go ahead and capture the thing and get it out of there. Trey then served his father one of the best “Are you ******* kidding me with that?” faces I’ve ever seen.
Will Smith’s foray back into the realm of social media ramped up over the weekend when he posted a video showing himself and his oldest son corralling a giant spider in their house.
“What the whole hell? That is a big-ass spider!” Will, 53, said in the video of the apparent Tarantula.
The Oscar winner put his son Trey in charge of spider wrangling, climbing onto a chair for his own safety as the giant arachnid crawls across the floor.
“C’mon, you’re young and strong,” he tells Trey, 29. “You can handle the bite.”
His son responds by giving him an “are you serious” stare, with his hands on his hips.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star did eventually step in to help, after Trey trapped the spider under a glass while his dad screamed in the background.
“We’re taking turns, we’re a team,” Will said to the camera. The next shot revealed his casual mint green hoodie and bright pink shorts, while he held the spider inside the cup using a piece of paper.
“So that’s the biggest spider we’ve ever seen in our lives,” said Trey.
“I don’t like it at all,” Will said, adding, “We’re selling the house.”
The caption on the post jokes “posting this from a Holiday Inn,” and even garnered a comment from his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s, Red Table Talk account. “That’s HIS house now,” the comment said.”
I posted Will’s IG below. I guess I should put a spider trigger warning for those who need it. It’s a beautiful beast. If you’re cool with tarantulas, Trey’s expression is so precious when Will tells him to deal with it. It’s funny how much scarier spiders are in the ‘wild.’ I’ve had tarantulas climb my arm at zoos and sanctuaries. I find them interesting, and I know they are not venomous. However, even with those experiences, I would react the same as Will if one sauntered across the living room – including arguing that my kids should probably catch it. And that little yelp from Will was familiar too. I have captured countless spiders and bugs and yet, it still freaks me out when they skitter inside their carrying container as I’m transporting them. Just chill out and let me take you to safety!
However, from every story comes a lesson and this is no exception. When Will slides what looks like a headshot? (is the spider an agent?) under the glass, I said, “Oh, that’s far too flimsy.” But my husband said, “Yes, but it’s a great conduit to slide a piece of cardboard under without hurting the spider.” And lo and behold, that’s exactly what Trey does next. No more spider leg causalities in my rescues. So see, we all got something from this. I will become a more efficient and humane critter rescuer. Trey knows he’ll be the thrown in the path of any home-invading mice and Will and Jada are buying a new house. Congrats to all of us.
Photo credit: Instagram and Avalon Red
That moment when it lunges at him under the glass… 100% would have abandoned my life and changed my identity so the tarantula could never find me again!
I know that’s right!!!😱😂😭😭
Will always seems like he really enjoys the company of his kids. And Trey’s response was perfect.
I can relate! Last year I had to deal with a wolf spider (Google it at your own peril). I had called Salvation Army to remove an old couch. They are required to inspect furniture before taking it. There were two grown ass men there. One guy removed the cushions and screamed. I came running down the stairs. He says something huge and black hissed at him. He and his partner refused to touch the couch again and practically ran out of my house leaving me alone with it.
I ran out of my house too and went over to my parents and called pest control. And let me tell you, I’ve never seen a more chill person in my life. He wasn’t even wearing gloves. He caught and killed the thing and put it in a jar to show me. It was the size of my HAND. The dude was like “Aww! It was kind of cute!” 🤢
I had him drag my couch onto the deck and paid $300 for someone to come and immediately dispose of. Lord knows what else was living in there!
It *hissed*?!? If it wasn’t creepy I’d ask where you live just so I can never go there 😂 Even daddy longlegs/regular house spider send me shrieking from the room.
That thing’s got family 😱 they can come and eat you at night! Better get it out far, far away….
Love Will on the bed just in case 🤣
Seriously that’s a smol tarantula – biggest one I’ve ever seen was on my garden door – fully a handspan, estimated, just the body ….
Also when you see the black and yellow ones – not tarantulas – make sure you have a net plus pesticide – those things are vicious!
I think it was a bird tarantula. The size looked the same – massive spider – and it came from the tree branch 🤨
I’m arachnophobic and watching pictures of big ugly spiders can ruin my sleep for days. Not proud of that but it’s the truth. So thanks for the spider warning.
I once heard a certain psychic say spiders are harbingers of good luck/ opportunities; so maybe something major (in a good way) is about to happen for the Smith’s!
Oh shi-…I didn’t know that. Do you still get good luck if you kill them? The small ones? I’m guessing not since I’ve yet to receive my good luck 😆
I’m going to try to gently get them out next time. They’re so quick though, i might just leave them alone 😆
My confusion – where is this house? Where are tarantulas habits geographically?
@Barrett: Southern California has tarantulas (I remember them from my childhood). I believe they’re found throughout the American Southwest & into Mexico. They’re also in the Caribbean! I remember seeing tarantulas along the foot trail down to the bathhouse at the Cinnamon Bay Campground on St John, USVI!!! Right near my bare feet!!! They lived in holes along the trail & came out at night.
@Withlove, she said not to kill them. I don’t quite know what happens if you do…
she said not to kill them. I don’t quite know what happens if you do…
Not gonna click. Nope.
Just the headline alone is enough for me.
I am not afraid of small common household spiders. A couple of years back when I was in university I opened my bedroom door to go to the kitchen. It was at night and I was hungry. When I opened the door I saw the biggest spider I had ever seen on the wall in my doorway. I immediately turned around, locked my and put a towel at the bottom of my door. I was so hungry and I was alone for the weekend so there was no one to come help me. I decided to get out through the window, go to the kitchen to make food. When I was done I went back to my room through the window again to sleep. In the morning I peeked out of my door and the spider was gone. I never saw it again.
A million years ago, when we were in our first apartment, we would get huge tree roaches periodically (I live in Houston and our apartment was on the first floor with a big, tree-filled patio out back.) I am deathly afraid of them, they terrify me. One day, I went to get ready for work and one was on the showerhead staring at me. So I did the logical thing, which was lock him in the bathroom and pack a bag to go get ready at my mom’s house. 😂 My then-boyfriend/now husband came home and was perplexed that I’d locked the door. I didn’t want him to follow me! Made perfect sense to me at the time.
I don’t see that you had any other option. I would have done the same.
Well you had no other options.
I’m the spider wrangler of our household. I have a policy that no spiders are allowed to live in the bedroom, because neither I nor the spider will benefit from that middle-of-the-night encounter. Elsewhere in the house I tend to just ignore them, and do not tell my partner about them. I can then act surprised if they run across the floor in front of him while I start gathering the kit to evict them.
Awww. Most tarantulas are the puppy dogs of the spider world. They’re big and furry and only bite when provoked. And their bite won’t kill you. And at least you can SEE it, it’s the small spiders that freak me out. You never know where they are. Sneaky bastards.
Tarantulas do have venom, and some people are allergic to it. Plus if they bite, they might feel threatened enough to fling their little hairs on to you that act like little barbs. When my daughter worked at an outdoor camp, her boyfriend lived in a drafty cabin and woke up to seeing a tarantula on his foot 😳. Fortunately he stayed calm and unbitten.
The look on Trey’s face – 🤣🤣🤣 I actually laughed at loud at that!
I heard a spider expert on the Paula Poundstone podcast, her name is Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice. She loves spiders!! Anyway, she said you’re never more than four feet away from a spider, at any time, anywhere. Remember that! Four feet!!
No, she is wrong. Nope. Nope.
Nope.
😉
Socal here ( same town as Will Smith) and I have seen Tarantulas outside the house thank god. They are actually kind of cool. The insect here that absolutely creeps me out is a Praying Mantis. It’s completely the fault of the internets, as I watched a video of one killing a hummingbird by DRILLING THROUGH IT’S SKULL AND EATING and will never unsee it. Please do not google it.
I gotta laugh at Big Name Action Star Guy wants his KID to take care of the tarantula.
Seriously, we had one of those at my day care when I was a kid, it was more scared of us. Just get a jar and cardboard or whatever like they did here, it’s not that hard.
Trey looked more amused and then “Um, what, you’re serious?!”
My boys love spiders and I am very afraid. We got this app that identifies bugs. I found a spider on my shirt is it was the size of a pin head. It wasn’t moving and my oldest talked me into letting him take the picture to identify it before using a tissue to get it off (kill the sucker). The indentation came back as brown recluse and I scream and cried. I grabbed a tissue and killed it and then took off all my clothes to wash them and I took the hottest shower of my life. I live in Utah and we get the tarantulas and the damn brown recluse which are incredibly aggressive and have poison that will eat your body and send you to the hospital. I hate them, kill them all with fire! (To which my son says- “I hope you enjoy the plague.”
I keep tarantulas as pets, they are indeed venomous, some more than others. The species found outside of the US are much more potent than the ones we have here.
Boy, do I feel his pain on this one. Mom and I both are arachnophobic.
And if Jada has surrendered the house to him because of spiders, he should burn it!