Willow Smith said being called a “nepo baby” encouraged her to work hard to “prove [people] wrong.”
The singer, who is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, admitted she was “wrongly internalizing the negativity from the outside” due to her privileged background, but was determined to carve her path.
“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,” Smith said. “That has driven me to work really hard to try to prove them wrong. But nowadays, I don’t need to prove [anything] to anybody.
“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,” she continued.
When she was just seven years old, Smith made her Hollywood debut alongside her father in the 2007 movie I Am Legend, and released her chart-topping “Whip My Hair” three years later.
The actor and singer admitted she was “totally scarred” after her track went platinum when she was just 10 years old.
“I was totally scarred, but so many Black girls and women were inspired by that,” Smith said.
Smith also argued her race acted as an obstacle to a successful career in the entertainment business, but emphasized she wouldn’t change her skin color if she could.
“Being Black in America — even with privilege, which I’m never going to deny that I have — you’re still Black,” she said.
“And I love being black. People would look at me and [say], ‘Okay, well, her parents are this and that, but she still is like me. She still has brown skin,'” she explained. “And we all know that that doesn’t exempt you from anything, and that’s a place of connection.”
The singer then addressed rumors claiming she is “difficult” to work with, insisting that people simply misinterpret her drive to “get to that goal.”
“I’ve always been afraid of being perceived as difficult. In this society, a woman who knows what she wants is always perceived as being ‘difficult,'” Smith responded.
“I’m not being difficult, I just know what I want. And I’m willing to sacrifice the chillness of the moment for trying to get to that goal,” she said.
