Jada Pinkett Smith says she and Will Smith clashed over son Jaden
Jada Pinkett Smith says she and husband Will Smith clashed over their son Jaden wearing skirts
Jada Pinkett Smith continues to hold nothing back on her show, Red Table Talk.
In the latest edition, the 46-year-old actress chat with her two kids, Jaden, 19, and Willow, 17, and mother Adrienne Banfield Norris, 64, exploring how she and her husband Will Smith discussed Jaden's irreverent fashion choices in wearing a skirt.
The Collateral star hailed her son's bravery for the bold style decisions 'being a black young man' and 'and the son of like an über masculine hip-hop star' like her husband of 20 years, who she said was initially conflicted about his son's taste in couture.
'He has his feelings on that for sure,' the Gotham actress said. 'I remember Will calling me and being like, "Have you talked about this Jaden and him wearing a skirt?"
'And I said, "Yeah I have. He’s pretty happy about it."
Jaden had a noble social agenda in breaking the gender divide in his wardrobe, according to his mother.
Jaden 'talked about wanting to wear skirts to give kids the freedom, to give other people the freedom to think out of the box for themselves and not feel like in doing that that they would be bullied or be attacked in some way.'
Jaden acknowledged that the ripple effect was something that 'comes along with it,' his primary focus with the daring style of dress was to 'look fly' and set himself apart.
'That’s why I wore the skirts, so everyone would say, "He’s an innovator. His head’s in a different place."'
Jada said that another Jaden-related 'struggle' arose between she and Will when Jaden underwent rigorous training for his starring role in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid.
'I understand why men take their sons away for like whatever kind of warrior training because it is completely, utterly unfair and unnatural for a woman to have to sit and watch anything like that for her son,' she said. 'Will and I were in constant conflict, to the point where we were warring over Jaden.'
Jada told her son and daughter that despite whatever conflicts she might have had with Will over the direction of their careers, she was 'proud' of their efforts and the results.
'Even in those battles that we’ve had over what’s too much, what’s too little, trying to find the balance in regards to parenting, I’ll tell you one thing about the two of y’all: Y’all know how to work, you work hard, and you do it well,' she said.
