Jada Pinkett Smith Says Daughter Willow Was Once Scrutinized
By TheBlast Staff on December 11, 2019 at 3:54 AM EST
Gettyimages | Paul Archuleta
Actress Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed being "furious" after the eating habits of her daughter, Willow, were investigated.
Pinkett Smith talked about the experience during her Facebook series "The Red Table Talk."
The mom said that Child Protective Services visited the family, which includes husband Will Smith and son Jaden.
CPS stepped in after someone lodged a complaint about a picture of Willow, then 13, who was photographed laying on a bed, fully dressed, with Moises Arias, 20, who is a family friend.
"That was the first time I got furious," says Pinkett Smith in the Daily Mail.
Mood: When you're ready to casually slay all weekend long. ✨ #RedTableTalk pic.twitter.com/qR8blBoDo7
— Red Table Talk (@RedTableTalk) September 13, 2019
Willow, who's 19 now, says that since she knew Child Protective Services was coming, she walked in while eating a bowl of cereal, just to show that she was not having any issues with food.
"I was looking at the lady and the whole time I was thinking, 'You could be helping so many kids right now, and you're wasting your time with a child who has everything they need,' " Willow recalled.
Gettyimages | Jim Spellman
Willow says she told her mom:
"I walked in with a bowl of cereal specifically because I knew that they said you were starving me.
I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to walk in with food and eat the entire time! I'm going to eat throughout the entire interview!"
Pinkett Smith said she and Will really couldn't do anything about it: "We were just like, 'Please chill out, and they were like, 'No. This is stupid and it's ridiculous.' "
She adds that the incident brought the family even closer.
"We really locked up together as a family. 'Oh, we're getting attacked, so the kids got to see for the first time why Will and I had been so protective.' "
Gettyimages | Phillip Faraone
The family has faced something like this before.
Jada and Will apparently held an intervention for Jaden after they were concerned that he might be becoming malnourished due to his vegan lifestyle. They discussed the issue on "Red Table Talk."
Will Smith said his own weight gain prompted him to wonder about the nutrition habits of the rest of the family, including Jaden.
According to Pinkett Smith:
“Will and I had a bit of an intervention with Jaden because he’s a vegan now, but we realized he wasn’t getting enough protein. He was wasting away. He just looked drained. He was just depleted. He wasn’t getting the nutrients.”
“There was even grayness to his skin. We got really nervous," said Will.
Gettyimages | Natt Lim
“I was just eating, like, two meals a day, you know? Maybe one. Maybe just that one big meal, and I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, I didn’t get around to it,' " Jaden says.
But Jaden's health has improved, and he also says he's not vegan, though he's "tried" in the past.
“I’ll go vegan for a week or so, but for the past year, I’ve been vegetarian.”