Willow Smith recently forgave her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, for downplaying her struggles with anxiety.
In the latest episode of Red Table Talk, the “Whip My Hair” star recounted to guest Ireland Baldwin how she found it difficult to discuss her experiences with the disorder as a young woman.
“It was rough. I feel like when I was growing up, she didn’t understand my anxiety. Because she, growing up, had seen her friends die – she had been through so much stuff that my issues, to her, kind of felt like…(smaller),” Willow Smith shared. “And that was very frustrating for me as a child. Because I was like, ‘How can you not see my internal and emotional struggle?'”
Willow Smith described how she and her mom sat down and had a serious chat about the issue, and Jada confessed that she only recently discovered that she also had struggled with anxious feelings.
“Recently, we had a talk, and she was like, ‘I never knew that I actually experienced anxiety,'” the 21-year-old continued. “And she was pushing it down for so many years like she had no idea. So, I had to forgive her a little bit for being like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah… I get it, but it’s really not that bad.'”