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."
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".
"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".
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."
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."
Rough childhood? Bet she never missed a meal, didn't have to worry about coming home from school and finding an eviction notice on the door, no lights on, no running water, having clean clothes to wear.....Rough childhood my butt...
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