Will Smith has revealed that he blew $6 million (£2.9 million) as a teenage rap star.

The actor claimed that he was too young to be able to control the large sums of money he was earning and that it took the demands of the Internal Revenue Service to stop him spending his cash.

Smith is quoted as saying: "I had a hit single on the radio for 30 days before I graduated from high school. That's dangerous. It just seemed easy.

"The tide turned at 19. The IRS came and took all my stuff. They wanted $2.8 million and I had two dollars and eighty three cents."

He added: "I went through five or six million, but I had the best time."