This story originally appeared on People.
In the debut issue of digital zine Girlgaze, Willow Smith opened up about how having Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith as parents came with its own set of difficulties.
Asked what growing up famous was like, the 17-year-old revealed that “to be completely and utterly honest, it’s absolutely terrible.”
“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,” Willow said.
“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,” the “Whip My Hair” singer continued.
“When you’re born into it, there are two choices that you have; I’m either going to try to go into it completely and help from the inside, or…I’m really going to take myself completely out of the eye of society. There’s really no in-between,” she added.
But despite the fact that her parents’ fame made growing up difficult, during an interview with Pharrell Williams in 2016 for Interview magazine alongside her 19-year-old brother Jaden, Willow revealed she really admired her parents.
“Growing up, all I saw was my parents trying to be the best people they could be, and people coming to them for wisdom, coming to them for guidance, and them not putting themselves on a pedestal, but literally being face-to-face with these people and saying, ‘I’m no better than you, but the fact that you’re coming to me to reach some sort of enlightenment or to shine a light on something, that makes me feel love and gratitude for you,’ ” she said at the time.
“They always give back what people give to them. And sometimes they keep giving and giving and giving,” she continued, adding that “It’s not just about money. It’s not just about giving people gifts or whatever. What my parents have given to me is not anything that has to do with money or success or anything that society says people should be focusing on— it’s something spiritual that only certain people can grasp and accept.”
