Will Smith's 'Best Shape of My Life': the deeply personal YouTube series filmed in Dubai

Star reveals he once contemplated suicide, in the first trailer for the YouTube Originals series

Will Smith is seen cycling with the Downtown Dubai skyline in the background in the first trailer for his new YouTube docuseries. Photo: YouTube

Film star Will Smith has announced a new YouTube Originals docuseries, much of which was filmed in Dubai.

The iRobot star filmed the series Best Shape of My Life earlier this year, as he embarked on a mission to lose 20 pounds (9 kilograms) in 20 weeks, after gaining weight during the pandemic.

However, the trailer reveals the series ending up becoming more of a mental journey, with Smith making a number of personal revelations, including the fact he once contemplated suicide.

Shots from the two-minute clip show Smith cycling with the Downtown Dubai skyline in the background, as well as him practising yoga on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab. He is also seen training in the gym at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, which is owned by his close friend, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Smith, who has also been writing his memoir over the past year, is seen having conversations with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, on a Dubai golf course.

The trailer also shows Smith reading extracts from his memoir to his family, including children Trey, Jaden and Willow Smith.

“What you’ve come to understand as Will Smith, the alien annihilating MC, the bigger than life movie star, is largely a construction. A carefully crafted and honed character, designer to protect myself, to hide myself from the world. To hide the coward,” he reads.

The trailer ends by showing Smith climbing the ladder to the point of the Burj Khalifa, before a camera pans as he stands on the top of the world’s tallest building.

The first two episodes of the six-part series will be released on Monday, November 8. The remaining four episodes will be released daily, with the final episode showing on Friday, November 12.