Yesterday (April 27), Willow Smith opened up in a new episode of “Red Table Talk,” discussing her frustrations about her mother not understanding her anxiety growing up.
In Wednesday’s episode of the Facebook Watch series, Smith sat down for a one-on-one conversation with Ireland Baldwin — the 26-year-old daughter of actor Alec Baldwin.
Both grew up under the public microscope of fame with parents in the spotlight, so the two discussed issues that affected their early years, including alcohol and substance abuse and anxiety.
Baldwin asked the “Meet Me At Our Spot” singer how her mother Jada Pinkett Smith helped her cope with anxiety and mental health.
“It was rough. I feel like when I was growing up, she didn’t understand my anxiety cause she, growing up, had seen her friends die. She had been through so much stuff that my issues to her kind of felt,” Smith said before Baldwin completed her sentence with “smaller.”
“That was very frustrating for me as a child because I was like, ‘How can you not see my internal, emotional struggle?’”
Smith said it was only recently that she spoke with her mother about the previously unresolved issue.
“We had a talk and she was like, ‘I never knew that I actually experienced anxiety,’ and she was pushing it down and pushing it down for so many years. Like, she had no idea. So I kind of had to forgive her a bit for being like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, but it’s really not that bad,’” Smith said with a smile.
The Smiths are no strangers to sharing their issues and how they overcome them with the world. They have been extremely open in past interviews, books and other forms of expression like music.
With the new season of “Red Table Talk” just beginning, many expected the Smith family to discuss the Oscars slap, however, no mention of it was included in the show’s trailer and Pinkett Smith later revealed it would be discussed “when the time calls.”
“Red Table Talk” airs Wednesdays on Facebook Watch.