Having a super famous family isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
That’s what Will Smith, 54, revealed to Kevin Hart on the July 3 episode of his Peacock talk show “Heart to Heart”.
Smith’s kids, Jaden, 25 and Willow, 22, shot to superstardom in the early 2010s with the release of their movies and music, and they were only in elementary school. The Oscar winner admitted that although he felt his dream vision for his fam was coming true, it didn’t go without its downsides.
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“2010 was like the greatest year as an artist, as a parent,” he reminisced.
“‘Karate Kid’ came out in June, ‘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,'” he explained, referencing Jaden’s film, which earned $359 million at the global office, and Willow’s viral hit about flinging one’s hair around.
“We’ve talking about it, my father was abusive. I told myself I would never have that kind of energy with my family and I had a dream, an idea of a family I was building. Pretty much 2010 to 2012 I had achieved everything I had ever dreamed.”
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Despite the windfall of success, Smith shared that his family didn’t feel all that positive.
“Nobody in my family was happy,” he confessed. “No one wanted to be in a platoon. Willow was the first one to begin the mutiny and it was my first realization that success and money don’t mean happiness. Up until that point, I really believed that you could succeed your way—to a house and a family—and you could win your way to happiness.”
The “I Am Legend” star, who is also a son to 30-year-old Trey with his ex Sharee Zampino, learned a pivotal lesson in his life: “Material circumstances do not equal happiness and, in a lot of cases, they can be the reason you’re not happy.”
