Speaking to Ireland Baldwin on “Red Table Talk,” Willow Smith said that when she was a kid, nobody seemed to take her anxiety seriously. “I feel like when I was growing up I was always told I was being a brat or like, being ungrateful, or like having a fit. When in reality, I was kinda dealing with a deeper emotional issue,” she said.
Later in the interview, Willow got more specific about her mom. “She didn’t understand my anxiety ’cause she, growing up, had seen her friends die, like she had been through so much stuff that like my issues to her kinda felt like… smaller,” Willow told Baldwin. “And that was very frustrating for me as a child. Because I was like how can you not see my internal, emotional struggle.”
Don’t worry about the mother-daughter bond now, though, as Willow noted that she and Jada Pinkett Smith had a bit of a heart-to-heart about the anxiety, with Jada explaining that she hadn’t realized she was suffering with anxiety herself. It isn’t the first time Willow has touched on feeling misunderstood in her childhood. In a 2021 interview with the Independent, she remarked, “Even my own parents tell me it’s hard for them to understand my issues because my childhood was so different.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Nicki
