What Happened To Willow Smith? New Details About Where She's Been And Her Strained Relationship With Will Smith
It took her years to forgive her dad.
Willow Smith is the daughter of movie stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Growing up in one of the most famous families in Hollywood meant that Willow saw the world of celebrity from a very young age, but it was when she broke out onto the music scene with her hit single "Whip My Hair" that she was thrust into the spotlight herself.
Despite the success, it was not an easy time for the youngest member of the Smith clan, and Willow, 18, is now opening up about forgiving her dad, Will Smith, and the time she had to take off to do so.
Jada Pinkett Smith's Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk has become a very personal platform for the Smith family to talk about their lives, and this week's episode focused on Willow's relationship with her father following her musical breakthrough at just 10 years old.
Though Willow said that she had to forgive both her parents, it was her father who she felt was harsher at the time.
"I definitely had to forgive you and daddy for that whole 'Whip My Hair' thing. It was mostly daddy because he was so harsh at certain times."
She then goes on to talk about how it took to her several years to regain trust with her parents.
"It was a couple of years, honestly. Trying to regain trust for not feeling like I was being listened to or no one cared how I felt."
Another person Willow says she had to forgive was herself for not fully realizing the demands that her dream included.
"And I had to forgive myself because I felt guilty because everyone is trying to make me better, trying to make my dream. But I didn't really understand what my dream entailed."
She had also opened up in an earlier Red Table Talk episode about cutting herself during that time as a coping method for the stress, along with her desire to take a break from music.
Like most families, the Smiths have had their share of struggles, but it appears that Willow and her dad's relationship has never been better now.
Will Smith's Instagram page features plenty of photos and videos of his family, and in a super-sweet post back in October to celebrate Willow's 18th birthday, he shared a video clip discussing his relationship with his daughter.
In the video, he says that Willow has been "the most challenging, most beautiful relationship" of his life and that she "got the best" of him that "any human being has ever gotten."
Willow also returned to music with the 2017 album The 1st.
Jill Zwarensteyn is a writer and Michigan native who covers trending news, pop culture, crime and celebrity topics.