Willow Smith says she ‘would do anything’ for parents Will and Jada Pinkett despite ‘friction’ with them
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Willow Smith is getting candid about her rough upbringing and her mental health struggles in early childhood.
The 23-year-old daughter of Oscar winner Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, Willow recently opened up about her childhood in an interview with Dazed Magazine.
Though the celebrity child has always been in the limelight, Willow rose to fame through her 2010 hit single ‘Whip My Hair’.
Willow Smith describes relationship with parents Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith
Though Willow Smith was in an enviable position when at just age 10 she toured with Justin Bieber for his My World Tour, her personal life left nothing much to be desired.
The musical artist has since then described that period of her life as “rough,” while calling out her upbringing, as reported by Complex. But she has now made peace with her childhood while claiming that her relationship with her parents is now better than ever.
The ‘Wait a Minute!’ singer shared in the interview, "I think when you’re growing up, it’s natural to have that friction with your parents, and I think everyone goes through that.”
"But when it really changed for me was realizing that my parents are human beings, just like me, and they’re afraid and confused, and sometimes they don’t know the answers,” continued the daughter of the ‘Men in Black’ actor.
For Dazed #TheImpossibleIssue, cover star @OfficialWillow spent years recovering from her first, tumultuous brush with fame.
— Dazed (@Dazed) September 10, 2024
Now, having released her most spiritually guided album to date, she’s finding new ways to turn anguish into art.
Read now: https://t.co/VFrwZIvbhS pic.twitter.com/9brDOzLV95
Despite their earlier friction, Willow, however, did not shy away from admitting, "I just love my parents to death. I would do anything for them."
Willow Smith opens up about her childhood struggles
In the interview, Willow Smith opened up about the mental constrictions she felt when she was touring with Justin Bieber as a tween.
Struggling with her rising stardom, the young artist shaved her head when she had a breakdown as an 11-year-old as she wanted out of being the opener at Bieber’s tour.
Willow, nevertheless, admitted that shaving her head felt like a "dark night of the soul" and she felt herself losing her mentally.
The ‘Where You Are’ hitmaker admitted in her interview with Dazed, "I think I was just really overwhelmed, and I had so many moments where I didn’t feel understood.”
"At the time, I didn’t know how to express what I was going through, because people were like, 'Oh, you’re a brat,' or 'You’re being ungrateful.' I never wanted anyone to think I was ungrateful,” shared the singer.
She continued, “I never wanted anyone to think that I didn’t love my life. And so that’s why I kept it all inside. But as we know, when you keep things inside, they come out at some point.”
She explained that by choosing to suppress her emotions, they came out as her decision to self-harm, which Willow referred to as a way to "let those emotions come out in a way where I wasn’t opening myself up to judgment from other people,” per Hello!
Despite her struggle in the past, the young entertainer admitted that it was her family’s legacy in the entertainment industry that shaped her as an artist.
She explained, “I was born into a family who does entertainment,” before adding, “I could have chosen to not put myself in front of the world... but I think there are a lot of things that need to be expressed and a lot of issues that need to be raised," per Mundo Deportivo.
