Picture via Instagram
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have quite a unique family; not only are they constantly in the limelight, but their children have risen to fame beyond the usual celebrity given to kids of Hollywood A-listers.
Now, Jada has opened up about how her son Jaden asked to be legally emancipated at the age of 15, leaving her feeling 'devastated'.
His desire to be emancipated didn't come from a toxic relationship with his parents, like for former child star Ariel Winters, but rather a thirst for independence.
The mum says that Jaden, now 19, was always 'so mature' that she knew it would be difficult to keep him in the house. On the latest Red Table Talk, Jada spoke with her son, her daughter Willow, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones on the matter:
“At 15 years old, Jaden, and I remember this day specifically, it’s probably one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life.
Me Trying Not To Cry On Stage. pic.twitter.com/u6jSvGaPYD
— Jaden Smith (@officialjaden) 2 May 2018
"You got to a point where you told me straight up, you were like, ‘Mom, I have to leave here to live my life.’ "
The 46-year-old admitted, "I remember thinking to myself, as devastated as I was, I was like, ‘He’s right.’ The time is now. He’s 15. It’s time for him to leave the house.”
The Girls Trip actress said she understood her son's need to get out of the fame 'bubble'.
And even though he eventually didn't go through with the emancipation, Jada still feels that giving her son freedom was the best way to keep him close to her:
“Every child needs something different. Being in this lifestyle, in this world is a bubble and he wanted out. I understood that because I didn’t have the bubble.
"I knew what having my freedom outside the bubble, what I gained from that. I knew the sooner I let him go, the faster he was going to come back.”
Jaden, who is famed as an actor and a singer, agreed: "It just makes you appreciate being at home, being with your parents, spending quality time with family. You get out into the world and then you kind of just understand things."
The Karate Kid actor previously explained his desire to be emancipated on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when he was 14.
“See, here’s the thing. I’m not going anywhere. The thing that people don’t get is everything at this house is free,” the teenager said.
“I can get anything and everything at his house, so I’m going to be there for 20, 30 years. [My dad] says as soon as I have a movie that’s bigger than one of his movies, I can get my own house.”
Reflecting now on that 'heartbreaking' chapter when Jaden wanted to be emancipated, Jada says that being a parent is tough because you can't shield your child from the difficulties of life, no matter how much you'd like to.
"When you become a parent, you have these huge ideals even for yourself. We’re all coming into parenting with our childhood traumas," the actress imparted.
"You’re hoping you can fix all that through your own rearing of your children and you can’t. Your kids are going to have their burdens.”
