Will Smith has always been a family guy. From an outside perspective, it would certainly look great to see the success his kids have achieved at a young age. However, it is far from the truth as he regrets pushing his kids to fame when they were far too young to be in the industry.
Things went even further downhill when his second son, Jaden demanded legal emancipation at the age of 15, which shattered and rocked Will Smith to the core.
Will Smith Regret’s Pushing Kids For Fame
Taking a look back at the year 2010, one would certainly feel that everything that could go well was going on with the Smith family. And that is certainly how the Suicide Squad star feels about the year, going so far as to describe it as beyond his wildest of dreams. In the recent episode of Hart to Hart he stated,
“2010 was like the greatest year as an artist and as a parent. ‘Karate Kid’ came out in June and ‘Whip My Hair’ came out in October. I’m building this dream of a family I’ve had in my mind. ‘I’m going to do it better than my father did it.’ From 2010 to 2012, I achieved everything I had ever dreamed of. I was beyond my wildest dreams.”
Growing up in an abusive household, the I Am Legend star had always wanted to do better than what he received from his parents. But then the realization hit Will Smith hard that he wasn’t doing any better than his father.
“Nobody in my family was happy. Willow was the first one to begin the mutiny and it was my first realization that success and money don’t mean happiness.”
And then started his journey to explore his own feelings and his family for the sake of everyone’s happiness. His pursuit of happiness made Will Smith realize that money and fame don’t mean anything if nobody is happy.
Jaden’s Emancipation Request Was A Wake-Up Call For Will Smith
Will Smith opened up about his life in his very candid memoir, Will. The book revealed multiple unknown secrets and cleared a lot of speculations regarding the Smith family. It also touched upon Jaden Smith‘s emancipation request after the failure of the movie After Earth. Despite earlier claiming it was a joke and hoax, Smith revealed that it was actually true that his son wanted to be legally separated from the family.
“After Earth was an abysmal box office and critical failure. And what was worse was that Jaden took the hit. Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I’d instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he’d ever experienced.”
He then added how bad he felt after his son’s request.
“He felt misled, and he lost his trust in my leadership. At fifteen years old, when Jaden asked about being an emancipated minor, my heart shattered. He ultimately decided against it, but it sucks to feel like you’ve hurt your kids.”
Despite all odds, the Smith family has found their way back to each other and are often spotted together.
After Earth can be streamed on Netflix.
