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Will Smith shared a terrifying ordeal he experienced while filming his new television series at the North Pole.
In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, Jan. 20, Smith shared that he almost died while filming new Disney+ series, Pole to Pole With Will Smith.
“We went scuba diving at the North Pole, right? So we did a dive under the ice,” he said. “So you go under the ice, and the ice can be up to 10 feet thick. So we’re under, we went out about 40 yards away… It’s like an upside-down ice mountain range, right?”
Smith recalled how the scuba diving expedition quickly took a scary turn.
“We went under, and I start hearing, ‘Abort dive! Abort dive! Abort!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ right? So I went to ascend and hit ice. I was like, ‘Oh no, Will, calm down. Calm down.’ You have a tether on, and you have to pull yourself back to the hole, right? I grabbed and accidentally pulled my mask off,” Smith told Fallon.
Smith was able to take the experience in jest, joking, “I was like, ‘If I get out of here, I’m only gonna do Black stuff from here on out. I promise Lord! African American behavior from here on out!”
Smith recalled the moment when he was brought back to safety, “When I realized I was good, I just relaxed and I looked around and when I tell you, the sun is coming through the ice and it went from terror to the most spiritual, beautiful thing,” he said. “And I was just like, ‘Whoever’s up there, don’t let go of my tether!’”
Pole to Pole With Will Smith premiered on Disney+ on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and follows Smith as he crosses the continents.
The series is described as, “Inspired by his late mentor to explore life‘s big questions, Will Smith throws himself into incredible challenges for 100 days: skiing to the South Pole, catching a giant anaconda, milking a venomous tarantula, climbing mountains, and diving under the ice of the North Pole.”
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.