Jada Pinkett Smith wishes she had “held off” on putting her children in the spotlight.
The 49-year-old actress shares Jaden, 22, and Willow, 20, with her husband Will Smith, and has said whilst she’s proud of the things her brood have achieved at young ages – including Jaden’s success as a child actor, and Willow’s#### single “Whip My Hair,” which was released when she was 10 – part of her also regrets how much her kids were “allowed to be in the spotlight”.
Speaking to Willow and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on their Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk, Jada said: “Life is unfolding, you know? It really is. We wish we could know everything at once and have all the information that we need, especially when it comes to parenting, right? Fortunately and unfortunately, you just have to go into things to recognize or realize what works and what doesn’t.
“I knew that my children were creatives from day one, OK? I knew that they were not conventional children and that was just going to be a part of their reality because their parents are not conventional at all. You know, Will and I have never really lived conventional lives or had conventional ideas about life. But I would have held off a bit in regards to how much they were allowed to be in the spotlight.”
Despite their early rise to fame, Jada insisted both of her children were prepared for life in the spotlight thanks to the advice their famous parents were able to give them.
“I was very lucky of the combination of the fact that Willow and Jaden had themselves early and they had a certain fortitude to be able to have controversy, to have criticism,” she added. “And so when they came onto social media, they definitely have a different relationship than even I have to social media. They’ve actually taught me a lot in regards to what to pay attention to, what not to pay attention to. And they’ve really helped me navigate my relationship with social media.”
And although the family has faced scrutiny, Adrienne believes it has made them stronger together.
“It makes you stronger because you know what the truth is,” she smiled. “And it’s unfortunate. You have to kind of sit in it and accept it and deal with it. But it seems very unfair. But the world isn’t fair … I think you just learn over time that this is part of it, you know?”