Willow Smith is opening up about an intense period in her life.
Willow Smith is opening up about an intense period in her life.
The 17-year-old singer revealed to her mom, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, that she used to harm herself during an intimate discussion on Monday's episode of Jada's Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk. When Jada asked Willow what her biggest loss was in life, Willow candidly said that it occurred after she achieved fame thanks to her 2010 hit, "Whip My Hair."
“I would have to say I honestly feel like I lost my sanity at one point,” Willow said. “It was after that whole ‘Whip My Hair’ thing and I had just stopped doing singing lessons and I was kind of just in this gray area of, ‘Who am I? Do I have a purpose? Is there anything I can do besides this?’”
“After the tour and the promotion and all of that ... they wanted me to finish my album," she continues. And I was like, 'I’m not gonna do that.' After all of that kind of settled down, and it was, like, a lull, I was listening to a lot of dark music and it was just so crazy, and I was just plunged into this black hole and I was, like, cutting myself and doing crazy things.”
Jada, 46, was clearly shocked by Willow's revelation. Willow says not even her older brothers, Jaden and Trey, knew about what she was doing, and that she only told one friend.
“I mean, you cant even see it," Willow said, checking for scars on her forearms and wrists. "There’s still a little something there. Totally lost my sanity for a moment there. I never talk about it because it was such a short, weird point in my life, but you have to pull yourself out of it.”
Asked why she was cutting herself, Willow explained, "I honestly felt like I was experiencing so much emotional pain but my physical circumstances weren't reflecting that."
Later, Willow shared how she was able to stop.
"One night I was like, this is actually psychotic and after that I just stopped," she recalled. "It's been, like, five years."
"Well, I had no idea," Jada replied, clearly still in disbelief. "I never saw any signs of it."
Last November, Willow opened up about the pitfalls of growing up with famous parents.
“Growing up and trying to figure out your life…while people feel like they have some sort of entitlement to know what’s going on, is absolutely, excruciatingly terrible -- and the only way to get over it, is to go into it," she told Girl Gaze magazine. “You can’t change your face. You can’t change your parents. You can’t change any of those things. So, I feel like most kids like me end up going down a spiral of depression, and the world is sitting there looking at them through their phones; laughing and making jokes and making memes at the crippling effect that this lifestyle has on the psyche."
Aside from Willow, Jada's new show also stars her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris. The show revolves around the trio giving their honest perspectives on the topics at hand, and Jada has already previously proved she's not afraid to discuss uncomfortable topics. Red Table Talk's first episode starred Jada's husband Will Smith's first wife, Sheree Zampino, and the two women candidly discussed the rough start to their relationship, as well as the challenges they had to face while co-parenting Sheree's son Trey.
Red Table Talk Episode 2 is available now on Facebook Watch. Check out new episodes on Mondays and visit Red Table Talk on Wednesdays for a Facebook Live with Jada, Willow and Adrienne.
ET recently spoke to Jada about talking to her husband's ex, and the actress admitted the confrontation was "scary."
Watch below:
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