Willow Smith says her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, treated her differently than her brother, Jaden Smith, growing up.
The 19-year-old singer and actress has claimed her older brother Jaden, 22, was always treated with more leniency by their mother when they were children, whereas Willow felt as though Jada was much tougher on her.
Speaking to her mother and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on this week’s “Red Table Talk,” she explained: “There is a difference between how Black moms treat their daughters and their sons.
“Something as simple as getting up at the right time. It was like, ‘You better get up. You better get dressed.’ I’d be in my room going like, ‘OK, I gotta get [ready, while being stressed and hurried].
“But then Jaden is there and she’d be like, ‘Uh, so are you ready to uh…’ and he’d be like, ‘Uh, maybe one moment.’ ”
Willow said she would be “ready at the door” to head to school while her brother moved at a much slower pace and insisted he would never be rushed in the same way she was.
And Jada, 49, admitted Willow’s recollection of events was probably true, as she said: “That’s true. She might have a point.”
Although Jada — who has Willow and Jaden with her husband Will Smith — may have been a stricter parent with her daughter, she still let the teenager express herself and show off her individualism.
The Girls Trip star recently explained she was “shamed” for allowing Willow to shave her head when she was 10 but chose not to listen to her critics because she knew how happy the haircut made her daughter.
She said: “I have had my fair share of mom-shaming. With Willow, I think the first time I got hardcore criticism, when you first cut your hair, there was a firestorm.
“Looking at how my children were being affected, that’s what counts. When people are like, ‘I can’t believe you shaved Willow’s head,’ if they could have seen this child’s expression of freedom, looking at her hair falling to the ground.
“Me as a mom looking at that, experiencing that with her, there’s nothing anyone could say to me to tell me that it was wrong. Not one person, because I was there, I was looking at her, I saw her face, I knew the journey she and I took together to get to that point. It didn’t matter what anybody said.”
