Willow Smith shares rare details of relationship with dad Will after ‘rough' childhood

Willow Smith has been in the public eye for her entire life, born to Academy-award winner Will Smith and musician and actress Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Many will recall her 2010 hit single "Whip My Hair" but that period of time, when the singer was only 10 and touring with Justin Bieber, has now been described by the artist as "rough," but acknowledging that now, 14 years later, their relationship is "better than ever".

"I think when you’re growing up, it’s natural to have that friction with your parents, and I think everyone goes through that,” the singer has told Dazed magazine. "But when it really changed for me was realizing that my parents are human beings, just like me, and they’re afraid and confused, and sometimes they don’t know the answers."

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"I just love my parents to death. I would do anything for them," she added.

As a tween, Willow said she was held to a high professional standard  by her father, which he has since admitted he regrets, and the pressure saw her decide to shave off her hair at the age of 11, and led to what she calls the "dark night of her soul".

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"I didn’t know how to express what I was going through," she shared, adding that she "never wanted anyone to think I was ungrateful" or that she "didn’t love my life".

She chose to keep her emotions to herself which tragically saw her decide to self-harm, which she called a way to "let those emotions come out in a way where I wasn’t opening myself up to judgment from other people".

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The new interview comes after the 24-year-old was dealt a disappointing blow as Childish Gambino postponed his world tour, on which Willow was the support act, to focus on his "physical health".

Sharing a statement on X, the artist, real name Donald Glover, wrote: "Hey everyone. unfortunately i have to postpone the rest of the north american tour to focus on my physical health for a few weeks."

He added: "Hold onto your tickets. ALL tickets will be honored for the upcoming dates in North America when they are rescheduled."

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Willow's musical talents come from both her mother and father; Jada was the lead singer of nu metal band Wicked Wisdom, and Will was known as the Fresh Prince in the 1990s.

Her brother Jaden is also an artist, but earlier in 2024 Willow became the first member of their family to have a single streamed over a billion times.

Will took to his Instagram to gush over the achievement, sharing a shot of his phone screen with her Spotify page, to confirm that she was indeed a streaming billionaire thanks to her 2015 track "Wait a Minute".

"@willowsmith is the first person in the family to have a song with a BILLION streams!!" he proudly wrote, with Willow responding in the comments: "Love u daddy."