Jada Pinkett Smith’s daughter, Willow Smith, once opened up about her anxiety issues. Observing things from a distance and then passing judgment is certainly different from being in the shoes of a person and then understanding their problems.
Since Smith’s daughter has faced the thought phase of anxiety, she understands the difficulty of dealing with it. The singer once shared that she prefers, dealing with such a situation alone, rather than involving anyone in it. Previously, she even reflected on her mother’s reaction to her anxiety.
Willow Smith prefers dealing with her anxiety alone
Willow Smith has always been vocal about her anxiety issues, and her confidence to talk about them openly often encourages others to do the same. However, Smith is more comfortable dealing with her issues alone and does not prefer turning to her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, for help.
During an episode of Red Table Talk, the Time Machine singer recalled a time when she had anxiety but managed it alone. The I Am Legend actress said,
“I was having extreme anxiety. I couldn’t talk, I had to just cocoon and like be with myself for a moment.”
Smith turned to her mother and explained why she didn’t seek help at such a moment and explained,
“That was so important because it would have been so much more intense if I had been looking to you to be like, ‘Help me!'”
Smith further concluded by saying that she eventually started feeling normal again. The 22-year-old actress later shed light on the difficulties a person who is struggling with anxiety faces and the doubts that surround their mind because of their condition. She said,
“There’s shame, there’s guilt, there’s sadness, and there’s confusion. And then you don’t even want to talk about it because you’re like, ‘I feel crazy, and I don’t want them to think I’m crazy so I’m just not gonna say anything.'”
Dealing with anxiety isn’t easy, but what’s more difficult is convincing people about the existence of the
How did Jada Pinkett Smith react to Willow Smith’s anxiety?
Willow Smith once talked about her mom’s reaction to her anxiety. Initially, Smith struggled a lot to convince her mother about her condition, as Pinkett Smith failed to acknowledge it at first. Smith said,
“It was rough. I feel like when I was growing up, she didn’t understand my anxiety. Because she, growing up, had seen her friends die — she had been through so much stuff that my issues, to her, kind of felt like … [smaller].”
However, this never created any difference between mother and daughter, as Smith always had empathy for her mother and forgave her for not considering her issues. Smith said,
“We had a talk, and she was like, ‘I never knew that I actually experienced anxiety,'” Smith shared. “And she was pushing it down for so many years, she had no idea. So, I had to forgive her a little bit for being like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah … I get it, but it’s really not that bad.'”
Though Smith had to struggle with anxiety alone for a while, she eventually figured out a way to tackle her situation. It’s not just Pinkett Smith who failed to acknowledge her daughter’s issue, as there are still many people who are clueless about the struggle with anxiety. However, thanks to people like Willow Smith who come up and talk about their issues and inspire others to be vocal about them too.
