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Willow Smith, the only daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, says she's worked hard to prove she isn’t a nepo baby.
Willow (23) told Allure magazine recently that knowing people think of her as a nepo baby shook her confidence.
“I definitely think that a little bit of insecurity has driven me harder because people do think that the only reason I’m successful is because of my parents. That has driven me to work really hard to try to prove them wrong.”
These days she feel more sure of herself.
“I don’t need to prove s**t to anybody.”
She made her movie debut with her dad in I am Legend, when she was six years old, playing his on-screen daughter.
When she 10, she released her chart-topping track Whip My Hair, despite her parents' reservations about carving out a musical career at such a young age.
But Willow says she knew she wanted to be in the entertainment industry, especially as a musician.
“I’ve tried to run away from it. I’ve tried to be like, ‘No! I’m not a musician, I’m gonna do something else’, and then, guess what? It just keeps coming back!” she recently told Billboard.
“Whip My Hair is like, ‘Be yourself, live out loud, don’t care what anybody thinks, express yourself!'” she told Billboard recently.
“That hasn’t really changed. I really feel like Whip My Hair is just a foundation for everything that has come later . . . It was a lot of fun. I am so grateful – I would never take it back.”
Willow is currently promoting her latest album and sixth studio release, Empathogen. She also performed at Coachella recently, and her parents were there to support her.
She believes she would have turned out to be the same person, even if her parents weren't household names.
“I truly believe that my spirit is a strong spirit and that, even if my parents weren’t who they were, I would still be a weirdo and a crazy thinker.”
SOURCES: ETONLINE.COM, JUSTJARED.COM, HELLOMAGAZINE.COM, PEOPLE.COM
