Willow Smith has broken her silence on her tumultuous past.
Including how she managed to overcome the darkness associated with childhood fame.
Scroll on for the full story!
Now, the Smith family has been through a hell of a lot over the last few years…
Particularly when it comes to their personal life.
As we know, things kicked off for Will when Jada Pinkett Smith’s alleged affair thrust the pair into the spotlight.
For years now, rumors of infidelity between her and her husband, Will Smith, have been rife… But a whole new rumor emerged.
Reports had been alleging eye-opening new details about the pair’s marriage…
And shockingly the situation continued to develop as Will also admitted that he “cheated” on his wife.
The couple initially met all the way back in 1994.
Jada was only nineteen when she auditioned to play the role of Will’s girlfriend in the hit sitcom, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
But the pair hit it off right away.
At 6’2, Will towers over Jada, who is only 5′. But from the audition, Will and Jada built a friendship that soon turned into a romance.
Though Will was married to Sheree Fletcher at the time when they met…
In an interview with Access, Jada admitted that Will was still technically married when they started dating. “He was ‘div’,” she said. “The ‘orced’ hadn’t happened yet.” Will and Sheree divorced in 1995 and they continued to share custody of their son, Trey.
It didn’t take long for Will to make his moves on Jada…
Upon the breakdown of his marriage, Will had asked Jada if she was “seeing anyone,” and her response was “no.” “Cool, you’re seeing me now,” Will had smoothly told her.
They appeared to be the perfect couple…
And, just 2 years later in 1997, Will and Jada had tied the knot in a private ceremony at the Cloisters Mansion in Jada’s hometown of Baltimore.
It wasn’t long after they announced Jada was pregnant with their first child…
Jaden, who is twenty-three, was born a year after they married, followed by Willow, who is twenty-one.
Both Jaden and Willow have embarked on careers as musicians since they were teenagers and they’re now proving to be very popular, particularly in the hip-hop and rap scene.
The Smiths seem like the perfect family…
But nothing is ever as perfect as it seems, right?
And sadly that seems to be the case for Jada and Will…
In 2013, fans went wild when Jada allegedly hinted that she and Will were in an open relationship.
During a HuffPost Live Interview back in 2013, Jada confirmed the rumors…
“I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay.’ Because, at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that’s not for me to do for him. Or vice versa.”
Taking to Facebook shortly after the interview, Jada opened her post with the question, “Open marriage?…”
She then explained: “The statement I made in regard to, ‘Will can do whatever he wants,’ has illuminated the need to discuss the relationship between trust and love and how they co-exist.”
On TIDAL’s Rap Radar podcast in 2018, Will also opened up about their marriage…
He said: “We don’t even say we’re married anymore. We refer to ourselves as ‘life partners,’ where you get into that space where you realize you are literally with somebody for the rest of your life. There are no deal-breakers. There’s nothing she could do – ever – nothing that would break our relationship.”
This solidified rumors about the couple’s unique relationship.
However, shortly after, a whole new spanner was thrown into the works.
In 2020, singer August Alsina came forward with some pretty eye-opening claims about Jada…
He had hinted strongly that he had engaged in a consensual relationship with Jada in his song “Nunya.”
And, to make this story even more scandalous…
He alleged that the relationship, which spanned over several years, “was approved by her husband Will.” What?
In an interview with The Breakfast Club’s Angela Yee, August said…
“I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation. Due to the transformation from their marriage to their life partnership that they spoken on several times, and not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing.”
He continued…
“I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life. I truly and really, really deeply loved, and have a ton of love for her. I devoted myself to it, I gave my full self to it. So much so to the point that I can die right now and be OK with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody,” he said.
He concluded…
“I really loved the person that I experienced that [with] and know what [that feels] like – if some people never get that in this lifetime.”
After August’s controversial comments…
Jada took to The Red Table to discuss the issue.
Okay, anyone who is familiar with the Smith family will be aware of their infamous Red Table.
Jada, alongside her daughter, Willow, hosts her own online chat show, Red Table Talk, where people sit around a red table, or sometimes on a red couch, and talk candidly about their own personal issues and experiences.
The full Smith family has appeared on Red Table Talk several times before…
And Will and Jada have candidly talked about their own relationship and family life.
But in this particular episode, she confessed it all…
And, just months later, Will Smith also made some admissions of his own…
In a cover story with GQ Magazine in September 2021, the actor confessed that he also had other s*xual relations during his marriage to Jada.
“Jada never believed in conventional marriage… Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship,” he said. “So she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up. There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple? And for the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection.”
He continued: “The pursuit of truth is the only way to be happy in this lifetime and we sort of came to the agreement that authenticity was the release from the shackles of fame and public scrutiny.”
The author of the GQ piece revealed that Will explained to them, that Jada wasn’t the only one that was “unfaithful” but didn’t elaborate on the details.
“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way,” Will told the publication.
“And marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love,” he added.
And the Smith family was once again thrown into the spotlight after the events that unfolded during this year’s Oscars.
When Will punched Chris Rock on stage after he made a joke about Jada.
It’s safe to say, it was an event that got everyone talking for weeks.
And although Rock remained quiet about the incident for several weeks, he started to speak out.
Rock joked that he’s finally got his “hearing back” after being slapped by Will.
Rock made the joke while performing at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas as part of his comedy tour.
According to The Mirror, Rock discussed the incident telling fans that he is “good.”
“I am good,” he said. “I got my hearing back. It wasn’t as bad as it looked.”
The outlet reports that Rock also later added: “People who say that words are hurtful have never been punched in the face.”
And it seems that it isn’t the only time that Rock has discussed the incident during his tour and made a joke about his hearing.
The outlet reports that days previous, while performing at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in California, Rock said that “life is good.”
“I’m OK, I have a whole show and I’m not talking about that until I get paid,” he reportedly said.
“Life is good,” he added. “I got my hearing back.”
And while he might be making jokes about the incident, there’s one thing he wants fans to know…
He’s not a “victim.”
During his performance in New Jersey, Us Weekly reported that Rock made light of the situation, saying: “I’m not a victim, mother******.”
“I shook that s*** off and went to work the next day. I don’t go to the hospital for a papercut,” Rock added.
It seems that Rock isn’t going to let the situation get the better of him.
He was even heard mocking Smith during his comedy segment on Saturday.
Rock referred to the actor as “Suge Smith.”
It has since been reported that it was in reference to Suge Knight, the Death Row Records CEO.
But now, the tale is twisting as Smith publicly spoke about slapping Chris Rock…
And its more than just that as…
It’s the first time he’s actually opened up…
We bet you want to know all the juicy details…
But apart from what was going on in Will’s head at the time, the actor indeed made it clear in the video that “he and Chris had a history…”
Which was an obvious reference to something not good in the past we think…
It all started when Will posted a video of him on Facebook answering questions from fans of the moment that “shocked” millions…
Smith wasn’t hesitant to unleash his softer side, as he spoke about the details of the dreaded day…
“I am human and I made a mistake and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s**t.”
According to TMZ, Tony Rock, Will Smith’s good friend also had an opinion on the matter.
He told a media outlet that Will did apologize to his brother, however the “damage done was probably irreparable”
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According to reports, the actor said he “didn’t go ballistic” because his wife Jada Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes at the joke, but…
He revealed he found the joke Chris made “insulting” and “disrespectful.”
He then went on and said he “suffered trauma” for disappointing his fans…
“I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me,” the actor said.
He also mentioned why he didn’t apologize to Chris…
As he said Chris “wasn’t ready to talk to him” but his fans were pleased to know that the actor at least made an effort to seek an apology from Rock.
And the 2 haven’t spoken since…
Smith went on and said he is after all “a human,” who has made mistakes.
He ended the conversation by apologizing…
To Questlove for apparently “stealing” his winning moment at the Oscars and Chris’ mom as well.
However, fans also noticed something else in the video.
Which was a message, written on a poster, in the background of the video reading: “The world is sick. Love is the cure.”
Many believe that the message was rather fitting.
Given the context of the video being an apology, it seems rather fitting.
Following Smith’s video, Rock responded via his most recent stand-up set.
Rock referred to Smith discussing victims and said: “Everybody is trying to be a f***ing victim. If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims. Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith … I went to work the next day, I got kids.”
Well it doesn’t sound like Rock is going to be buddy buddy with Smith anytime soon.
As you can probably remember, Rock declined to press charges at the time, but I guess understandably he’s not desperate to converse with Smith either.
Willow Smith seems to be at peace with her father’s infamous outburst at the Oscars.
Not only did Willow Smith have something to say, but her mother, Jada, had a few words to address publicly.
She responded to the incident, trying to restore peace between the 2 actors.
“My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile,” Jada said, “The state of the world today? We need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever.”
Since the incident, Willow Smith said in an interview with Billboard that “it didn’t rock me as my internal demons.”
During her recent interview, she revealed that she sees her “whole family being human.”
And that she “loves and accepts them.”
She further added, “Because of the position that we’re in, our humanness sometimes isn’t accepted, and we’re expected to act in a way that isn’t conducive to a healthy human life and isn’t conducive to being honest.”
Since then, Willow has opened up once more in another emotional interview.
She spoke out on spoke on SiriusXM’s “Bevelations.”
“I saw at a very young age … the dark path I could have gone down,” Smith explained.
“I kind of caught myself before my coping mechanisms started too early.”
“Realistically in my young mind … I just knew it felt wrong. I just knew it. I just knew everything felt wrong.”
“It’s not a deep, heartbreaking, like, world-shattering fear. … I really just think my higher self was like, ‘No. This is going to go bad for you.’ And I just had to listen.”
We’re so glad she’s in a good place now!