They may say that true genius only comes around once in a generation, but when it comes to a performer like Gene Kelly, it seems even in the two decades since his death, there’s been no one who can match his talent. He was not simply a gifted dancer and a handsome movie star, he was a pioneer of film choreography who constantly refined the way dance was shown on film. However, did he push himself and others over the limit?

Since the decline of the movie musical in the 1950s, Hollywood actors who can truly dance are few, leaving Gene Kelly to maintain his legacy. Though he was often compared to his peer, Fred Astaire, the truth is Astaire was far more focused on his own dancing rather than innovating the form of dance on film. They also had major personality differences that would cause their peers and fellow actors to much prefer Astaire to Kelly, with many even despising him…

Born into a family of dancers, Gene Kelly would find it hard to escape from the expectation of carrying on the family business. His parents were the owners of a Pittsburgh dance studio, which was all the more reason for Kelly and his brothers to dance. Though he didn’t realize it in his youth, dance and choreography would become his calling. Not just to present it on screen, but to blur the lines between styles, turning it into a form of his own.

As a youngster, Gene Kelly had no desire to pursue such a “girly” outlet like dance. It’s clear from his later work that he was intensely athletic. In his childhood, Kelly was intent on becoming a baseball player. With the Pittsburgh Pirates playing nearby, the young Kelly wanted nothing more than to be a shortstop on the team. However, by the time he reached an age to play professional baseball, Kelly found that his aspirations had drifted. That athletic sensibility would continue to follow him.

There was a brief moment where Kelly almost didn’t become a dancer. The other boys in the neighborhood had no kind words when it came to the Kelly boys taking dance lessons. As the Kellys would recall, “We didn’t like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies  … I didn’t dance again until I was 15.” By then, Kelly realized his purpose was to make dance acceptable for other men.

When comparing Gene Kelly’s style to his contemporaries, Fred Astaire in particular, it’s glaringly obvious that while Astaire was perfectly graceful and light on his toes, Kelly was the opposite. His movement was heavy, grounded, and athletic. Not because he lacked Astaire’s ability for grace, but because he was also so determined to transform the art of dance into an athletic pursuit. Kelly’s constant display of masculinity, however, had a darker side…

Unlike many of his Hollywood peers, Gene Kelly took his education seriously, enrolling more than once in a university. After earning a degree in economics, Kelly almost enrolled in law school. However, during the Great Depression, he had been forced to drop out of school and teach dance with his parents in order to pay the bills. There, he developed the skills to become a talented choreographer, but it would be too easy for him to stay close to home.

Success and fame came late for Gene Kelly. He finally managed to make the leap to New York City, but by then he was already 26 years old. Still, Kelly quickly gained a foothold, finding his first role as a background dancer in a Broadway show. His next role, however, would showcase his star power front and center as the lead in the musical Pal Joey. With a Broadway choreography project under his belt to boot, it was no surprise when Hollywood came knocking.

Gene Kelly’s life was on an upward path by the time he was 28, but the up and comer still felt that something was lacking. Some say it was an inherent lack of confidence that caused Kelly to latch onto younger women, which is exactly what he did when he met Betsy Blair. Blair certainly had showbiz aspirations, and Gene could help her to achieve some of them. However, she was only 16 to his 28 when their romance began…

Kelly was determined to bring excitement to his 17-year-old bride’s life. He took her to glamorous parties, helping her make Hollywood connections rather than forcing her into the role of stay-at-home wife. The two made their official move to Hollywood shortly after their wedding, where they became known for being prolific party hosts. However, with World War II on the horizon, their lives would be drastically shaken up. Kelly, for one, was not going to miss a chance to serve his country.

Kelly’s wife gave birth to their daughter when she was only 18 years old. However, the young couple soon found that they were living in a country at war. Kelly joined the Navy, but felt that he shouldn’t leave his wife alone to care for their infant daughter. Instead, he shipped her off to his parents back in Pittsburgh. Following the war, however, Kelly would throw himself back into innovating dance in Hollywood, spending far less time than he should have with his daughter.

Professionally, Kelly’s career was progressing like a dream. He was able to have a considerable amount of creative control over his projects, but try as he might, he couldn’t do the same in his marriage. Though neither he nor Betsy were unhappy, it became clear to Blair at least that she had married too young. She began affairs, informing Kelly that she wanted to see what else the world held for her. Kelly was committed to the marriage, but it didn’t matter.

One of Kelly’s biggest hallmarks was the charming grin that effortlessly flashed across his face in each of his film roles. He invited audiences into his dances, both through his attitude and through the camerawork he so carefully directed. However, many who worked with him tell of a very different man working behind the scenes, one who such a controlling taskmaster that his costars were frequently reduced to tears. It was Debbie Reynolds who first began to break the illusion.

Kelly’s good looks may have made him a natural for Hollywood, but his aspirations were also focused on how to use dance within his films. When it came to cinematography, Kelly wanted the camera to almost dance alongside the performer. However, at the time, they didn’t quite have the technology that Kelly needed in order to compose the camera angles he wanted for his films. Undeterred, Gene Kelly just decided to invent a camera piece he could use.

Kelly managed to break the mold once again when it came to working on the film Anchors Aweigh. He became the first person to ever dance on screen with a cartoon, as he twirled and tapped alongside Jerry the Mouse. However, Jerry wasn’t the first mouse that Kelly wanted to work with. He had first tried to get the rights to Mickey Mouse for the film, but Disney refused his offer. Either way, it became an iconic film moment.

Gene Kelly may have made his film debut opposite Judy Garland, however, when they were cast alongside one another in The Pirate, they found the experience to be decidedly different. Judy hadn’t been fully sold on making the film, which was being directed by her then-husband, from the beginning. However, after beginning to work with Kelly, she worried that she would be overshadowed because his role was much flashier. Kelly had been excited to give his artistic input, but it made Judy even more insecure.

For as much as he was able to innovate as a dancer, Kelly struggled with insecurity after moving to Hollywood. He felt his skills as an actor were better suited to the stage than to film, where both he and his critics felt like he was overselling. Kelly would reflect, “I would have loved to have been as good an actor as Spencer Tracy or Marlon Brando,” said Kelly. “I was a very good stage actor but in films I never was quite as good, just passable.”

It was in Gene Kelly’s nature to constantly push to not only break the mold, but to do it perfectly. However, it led the actor to be both demanding and competitive. Many other stars who were guests at Kelly’s home spoke about how fierce he was even playing a friendly game of volleyball. This tendency towards anger when he perceived himself as failing would cost him when he broke his ankle in anger after losing a match. He was forced to drop out of Easter Parade.

Though the two men have forever been linked in the American consciousness, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire surprisingly only ever danced together twice onscreen. The first collaboration came in a short number for the variety show style film, Ziegfeld Follies, in which the two men performed a charming number, “The Babbit and the Bromide,” which they’d choreographed themselves. The wouldn’t reunite until the 1970s, long after their prime dancing years when they both appeared in That’s Entertainment.

Debbie Reynolds may be one of Gene Kelly’s best-remembered costars, likely because there are far fewer people who are aware of his collaborations with stars like Judy Garland. Given Debbie’s youth when the two filmed Kelly’s biggest hit, Singin’ in the Rain, she had distinct memories of Kelly’s onset conduct, memories she didn’t hesitate to share when she penned an autobiography. Much of what she had to say about Kelly paints a portrait of a very different man.

In a film full of iconic moments, one of the most memorable cameos came from Cyd Charisse, a notable ballerina who Kelly chose for his fantasy dance sequence in “Broadway Melody.” Though she was accustomed to grueling conditions as a ballerina, working with Kelly really pushed Charisse to her limits. She would say at one point that her husband always knew she was working with Kelly by the bruises she came home with. She had no such problem with Fred Astaire.

Singin’ in the Rain couldn’t have been an easy entry into the world of Hollywood for Debbie Reynolds. In her book she wrote, “[Gene] criticized everything I did and never gave me a word of encouragement.” Instead, Reynolds found that Kelly’s pursuit of perfection kept her dancing until her feet would bleed. Feeling certain that she could never tell him, Reynolds instead told Astaire one day that she wanted to quit. More encouraging than Kelly, Astaire pushed her to keep going.

One of the most revealing passages that Debbie recorded about working on Singin’ in the Rain came during their first kissing scene. At only 18, Reynolds expected only a chaste kiss. Instead, she recounts, “The camera closed in. Gene took me tightly in his arms . . . and shoved his tongue down my throat.” Reynolds was alarmed by the force of the action, especially as she hadn’t experienced it before. For Kelly, his taste for younger women would ultimately have a different effect on his life…

The Olympic swimmer, Esther Williams, only worked with Gene Kelly on one film, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, which was released in 1949. However, upon the release of her memoir, she revealed some more of Kelly’s rougher edges. She wrote, “[Kelly was] one of the most winning and likable of men onscreen, he was nothing less than a tyrant behind the camera.” She continued to call him “merciless” explaining that “his words dripped sarcasm with every step.”

The title song is one of the most memorable moments in film history, but Gene Kelly didn’t reserve his impossibly high expectations just for others. While filming the title song. Kelly found himself extremely sick with a fever of 103F. He wouldn’t stop production just to recover, despite taking a few days off of directing duties. No matter how he was feeling, he threw himself into the performance, creating a piece of film history.

Kelly’s competitive nature would once again foil his career. On a ski trip in Switzerland that he took in 1958, Kelly found himself on the slopes alongside Olympic skiers. Never one to balk from a challenge, Kelly tried to beat them at their own game, only to end up tearing something in his knee. He recognized what the stunt had cost his career, saying that “[w]as the end of serious dancing for me.” He still had a career, of course, and time for a new love.

In 1985, Gene Kelly was tapped to begin work on a documentary. Working alongside him was a young woman named Patricia Ward. Though Kelly was already in his early 70s, Ward was still in her late 20s. Despite the age difference, the two found that they had a lot in common, including a love of poetry. Even in his twilight years, Kelly couldn’t help but be a romantic, and soon wanted to woo the young woman who seemed smitten by his old-school charm.

Even in Gene Kelly’s last few years, he managed to invoke shock when he married his third and final wife, Patricia Ward Kelly, who was only 31, while Kelly was 77. They had met when Kelly hired her to help him write his memoirs, but he found romance bloomed, even in his twilight years. No matter the devotion that Patricia still holds for her late husband, his children, all of whom are older than Patricia, chose not to attend.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have always had a controversial lifestyle from the day they started dating. Their lives have been nothing but a roller coaster of controversies and rumors. From being in an open relationship to having a polygamous lifestyle, the Smiths have been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Even Willow and Jaden Smith have had their share of controversies. Nonetheless, Will and Jada have shown us what the real meaning of marriage is even in the midst of all the problems surrounding them.

Smith and Zampino’s love story lives up to the saying – time decides whom you meet, when you meet and how you meet them. Will and Sheree met each other coincidently, when she was on the same set, where Jada was working to meet her friend.

Will took co-star Alfonso Ribeiro along to meet Jada, after he saw her in A Different World. However, he ended up meeting, dating, and marrying Sheree Zampino in 1992. That same year, on November 11, Willard Carroll “Trey” Smith III, AKA Trey Smith, was born.

We often hear people say- If it is meant to be, it will happen. The same goes for Will and Jada’s relationship. Before the two officially met, Will had already tried to meet her several times before he tied the knot with his then partner Sheree.

In 1994, Jada had auditioned for the role of Will’s girlfriend in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. However, because of her height, she did not get the part. Jada became Smith’s girlfriend and wife offscreen.

Will was attracted to Jada even before he was married. He was torn between two worlds. On one side was his partner and then-wife and kid, and on the other side was the girl he fell for a long time ago. Somehow his gut instinct knew that Jada was the one for him.

Will did not want to divorce his first wife; but, he was equally in a fix because of his feelings for Jada. It was Fletcher who decided to end the marriage instead. Subsequently, Will expressed his feelings for Jada.

Will tried as much as possible to keep his marriage intact. However, the growing differences between the two in many ways made things difficult. In one of her interviews, Zampino stated that Smith and she were very young when they got together.

Moreover, Smith was a rising star at the time while she was still struggling. There were too many factors that surrounded the decision behind ending the marriage. The decision to get a divorce equally devastated Will as he considered it the ultimate failure in his life.

Jada did have a tough time adjusting to the new chapter in her life. She had to accept that Zampino would always be a part of Will’s life because they co-parented their son Trey. Moreover, the two women were not on good terms.

Jada had to remind herself psychologically that Zampino was not her enemy but was only Trey’s mother. Eventually, the two started getting along, and things finally settled down. Even Zampino took her time to accept and to allow Jada to be a part of Trey’s life.

On July 8, 1998, Jada gave birth to Jaden Christopher Syre Smith in Malibu, California. The delivery did not take too much time, and Jada even had her mother (a nurse back then) help her out. His birth unleashed unprecedented vibes into the world.

It did not take much time for Jaden to follow in his parent’s footsteps. His talent shined at an early age. He was a good singer and even showed off his acting skills early on.

On December 31, 2000, Jada gave birth to their second child and Will’s third child Willow Camille Reign Smith, in Los Angeles, California. Just like her brother, even Willow showed early signs of being a potential star.

She made her debut in 2007 alongside her father in the movie I am Legend. In 2009, Willow even released her first single “Whip my Hair.” Will Smith’s career was also making headlines during the 2000s. In 2001, Smith was even nominated for the Oscars under the Best Actor for his role in Ali.

Soon after the birth of her second child, Jada Smith, an established actor and an entrepreneur for a fashion label, started a band called Wicked Wisdom in 2000. She adopted the name Jada Koren as a singer.

The metal band released their first album in 2006. Apart from that, Jada also opened her own production company and music label. The band even landed a slot at the Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004 and Ozzfest in 2005. Even Will’s career was rising to new heights.

Trouble started hitting Smith’s paradise in 2005. Some rumors made the headlines about the Smiths being in an open marriage. During his interview with The Daily Mail, Will even went on record to state that if he did want to have any kind of relations with someone, he would first get his partner’s approval and only then go ahead with it.

Nobody knows who started these rumors and why. However, ever since, the word about the couple being in an open marriage has been making rounds.

In 2002, Will turned producer and produced his first film ShowTime. In 2006, Will and Jaden shared the big screen for the first time with their movie The Pursuit of Happyness. During his interview in Red Table Talk, Will went on record to speak about when Jada had cursed in front of Trey Smith.

The kid was sitting on Will’s lap at a party. That was a turning point in their life when they decided that they would only talk once the two calmed down.

In 2010, Willow Smith’s People magazine interview made the headlines when she openly admitted about self-harm as a teen. She went on record to speak about what she did and why she felt that she had to share it with the world.

Her real struggle started after she released her debut single “Whip My Hair.” During her interview, Willow spoke about the pressures of being part of one of the most famous Hollywood families and being a star in the making.

In August 2011, Jada Pinkett Smith and Marc Anthony’s rumored relationship made headlines. Some even speculated that Will Smith became suspicious about Antony’s relationship with Pinkett Smith.

Word has it that he even caught the two together a few times, which left him in tears. One of the reasons for the Pinkett Smith-Anthony relationship surfacing was Antony’s separation with then-wife Jennifer Lopez. People started claiming that his closeness to Jada was a result of his distance from Jennifer. The Smiths then made an official statement to dismiss these rumors.

In 2013, Jada Pinkett Smith was in the middle of controversies yet again about being in an open marriage. People thought she admitted to being in an open marriage just because she happened to mention that Will could do whatever he wanted.

She later clarified that her statement was in regards to the question about Will doing whatever he wanted. She further stated that her statement hinted at the fact that the two loved and trusted each other.

Once again, in 2013, Jaden Smith was in the spotlight because he expressed his feelings about school and education. In his tweens, he stated that a school was nothing but a tool that brainwashed the youth.

He further went on to say that the world would have a much more intelligent society of children if they dropped out of school. The Pinkett-Smith family once again landed in controversy because of this statement. The statement even made people question what was happening, considering that Will and Jada were founders of the New Village Leadership Academy in California.

Will Smith even went on record to speak about the time when Jaden Smith wanted to live separately. When Jaden was just 14 years old, he talked to his parents, requesting them to consider this his 15th birthday gift. Jaden further stated that he wanted his parents to agree to it legally and requested to be emancipated.

Will’s statement confirmed that the reality behind the news was true. This became controversial and hit the headlines in 2013, adding one more controversy to Smith’s life.

Willow Smith got into a new controversy when a photo of her and Moises Arias emerged. In the image, Arias was shirtless and was seen lying next to 13-year-old Willow. Pinkett-Smith came out in the open and clearly stated that there was nothing controversial about the photo.

She further went on to tell the paparazzi that they were only projecting their trash and acting like covert [blanks]. Arias even deleted the image from his Instagram account because many people took on social media expressing how inappropriate the photo was.

In 2006, Will openly stated that divorce was not an option. He also said that he and Jada have always been committed to each other forever. Nevertheless, in 2015, rumors were flying once again that the Smiths were planning to part ways.

Some speculate that these rumors arose after Pinkett Smith and Alsina met at Willow and Jaden’s show. Some even stated that something was cooking up between Alsina and Pinkett-Smith as the two were getting close.

In 2015, even Will Smith was embroiled in a controversy about cheating on Jada. Word has it that Will Smith and Margot Robbie met on the sets of their movie Focus. Many even believed that their on-screen chemistry was one of the reasons behind their offscreen romance.

To make matters worse, Robbie said in an interview that Smith’s breath smelt good and that she felt like she was tasting candy cane while kissing him in the movie. This added more fuel to the fire.

During their Red Table Talk interview, Will and Jada were quiet about the topic of separation. As per rumors, in 2016, the couple separated. Moreover, Jada even admitted that she had an affair with August Alsina during that time. In one of her interviews, Jada also revealed that the two were not together.

She further said that the split was due to marital problems and tensions. She stated that she was not happy in her marriage and looked for love and happiness, which she got from August Alsina.

Later on in the year, more rumors about the Pinkett-Smith and Alsina relation came to light. Jada had gone on record to state that she was indeed in a relationship with the R&B singer. She even stated that the two became close as she was helping him with his addiction problem.

Adding to her statement, she said that it was during this time that the two bonded even more. Around the same time, Will Smith was said to be involved with Heidy De la Rosa.

In 2016, Will Smith ran into trouble again during his interview when Smith stated that he felt Jada and he went too far parenting Jaden and Willow. While Smith was talking about his children, he praised them for their forms of expression.

However, when the BBC presenter questioned him about boundary-pushing style and the kids’ enigmatic interviews, Smith jokingly stated that he felt that there had been some parenting mistakes. This led to another controversy.

In 2018, rumors about Will Smith and YouTube Star Liza Koshy arose. Many people even felt that Will and Koshy were spending much time together. These rumors seemed to have cropped when Koshy broke up with her then-boyfriend David Dobrik, a Youtube Star.

Liza first appeared on Smith’s channel in a video where Smith challenged her to a hydrofoil surfing competition. Things took a different turn when some even speculated that Will hired Liza for his movie Gemini Man.

On the Red Table Talk episode about motherhood, no one expected that Pinkett Smith would invite Will Smith’s ex-wife Fletcher. The two were seen speaking very respectfully and had a frank discussion about their past relationship. The two even admitted that it was because Trey, Will’s first son with Fletcher, helped them become friends.

On another occasion, Pinkett-Smith even invited Alsina to speak about his addiction problem during the episode titled Facing Addiction. These two occasions had fans speculating various things about Will and Jada’s marriage and rumored lives.

Although Will and Jada have had their shares of ups and downs, Will never left an opportunity to express how much Jada meant to him. In July 2018, Will openly said that Jada was not his wife but his life partner.

He even said that the two never state that they are married anymore; instead, they always refer to each other as life partners. He further added that nothing would break or come in between their relationship, and he will support her for as long as he lives.

Although Will and Jada have had a near-perfect life, the two have revealed many occasions about the challenges they have faced during their marriage. One such incident was when Will spoke about the strained relationship with his oldest son Trey.

Will openly admitted that he had abandoned and betrayed his oldest son to create a perfect life for Willow and Jaden. He even stated that Trey was estranged for years in the process. Will said that he realized he had failed miserably as a father, which affected his entire family, especially Trey.

Will and Jada have always been vocal about their life, relationships, and the controversies that surround them. In 2019, fans got to see how tight their bond was when the two took their relationship to a new level.

Not only did they go skydiving in Dubai on Will’s 50th birthday; but, the two even supported each other openly at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Will even went on stage to perform with his son, who was performing at the festival.

During another episode of Red Table Talk, Pinkett Smith spoke about how she handled Will’s female fan following. She also jokingly revealed that Willow, their daughter, always had her back. She shared one incident when Willow was around five or six years old.

She sprang into Will’s lap and openly told his female co-star that her mother was going to be there soon. However, on that note, she added that there were times when she felt a little hostile, especially when she thought that the fans were crossing their line and being disrespectful.

In April 2019, a new controversy hit Pinkett Smith’s life because of Alsina’s single “Nunya.” Word has it that people felt the song’s lyrics were sending out hints to Jada about coming out in the open.

Moreover, many felt that Alsina had written the song for Jada. Nevertheless, the singer did come out in the open and clarified that the song’s lyrics were not hinting towards anything or anyone in particular. It was just a song and a narrative.

During the April 2020 episode – How your relationship can survive quarantine? Pinkett-Smith openly spoke about how well she knew Will. She went on record to state that the couple realized that they still had a lot to learn about each other.

Moreover, the two were learning how to be friends. She further spoke about the assumptions of what people think marriage and intimacy are all about and what it is in reality.

A new controversy steered up when Alsina gave an interview during the promotion of The Product III: State of Emergency. He said that the Smiths were like family to him and that Will and Jada were indeed in an open marriage.

He also alleged that Will had permitted him to date Jada, after the two sat down and spoke about it. Soon after that, Jada came out in the open to debunk the rumors and clearly stated that the two were good friends, and she did get into an entanglement with August.

As much as controversies were surrounding the Smith family, a new scandal came to light about a cold war with Shane Dawson. Shane, who was controversial in many ways, ran into trouble with Will and Jada when he made a video featuring Willow Smith’s poster.

The Smiths were very upset after seeing the video and took on social media to express their disgust. They felt that the gestures were inappropriate and that he was responsible for the exploitation of a child.

Once again, Alsina came into the spotlight about his relationship with Jada. Post Pinkett-Smith’s revelation about her entailment with Alsina, things took a new turn when Alsina commented that he would stick to the exact truth.

Furthermore, he stated that he still had feelings for her and went on record to say that Will did permit him. He even stated that he was working on a new song titled “Entanglements.”

Willow Smith’s recent revelation brought her into the spotlight once again. Smith opened up about how her grandmother and mother lead a polyamorous lifestyle. She further added that she felt polyamory was the primary foundation that created a relationship that had freedom.

Willow said that the whole concept of marriage irks her. She was very vocal about the fact that she wanted to have a polyamorous lifestyle and relationships. The statement resulted in a new controversy and an outburst on social media where people started speculating about Smith’s lifestyle.

Shortly after the news hit that Jada and Will had separated, there were rumors about Will Smith and Liza Koshy being in a relationship. The same stories propped up again in 2021 when the fans questioned the reality between Koshy and Smith.

The fact that the two have neither accepted nor denied a relationship seems to be a question mark even today. To add fuel to the fire, many other controversial comments made by Will Smith in the past resurfaced.