Willow Smith has finally let the world know what she really thinks about her father publicly slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. The 21-year-old daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith revealed to Billboard that outburst didn't "rock me as much as my own internal demons." So what does that exactly mean?
For those who forgot - Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock on stage for millions to see during the live awards ceremony earlier this year. The comedian had made a joke about the actor's wife, and well, the rest is now history. Fast forward a few months, and Smith himself released a six-minute apology video explaining why he didn't apologize to Chris in his acceptance speech and that he's spent the last three months "replaying and understanding the nuances and, the complexes of what happened in that moment." The actor now recognizes his "behavior was unacceptable" and told Rock he's "here whenever you're ready to talk." In addition, the actor apologized to Rock's mother and family, saying he didn't understand "how many people got hurt in that moment" following what he did.
After Smith's on-camera apology, his daughter, Willow, shared what the slap meant for her. "I see my whole family as being human, and I love and accept them for all their humanness," she explained. "Because of the position that we're in, our humanness sometimes isn't accepted, and we're expected to act in a way that isn't conducive to a healthy human life and isn't conducive to being honest," she told Billboard. The young artist pivoted the conversation to discuss her new album, Coping Mechanism, dropping next month.
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The Coping Mechanism artist wasn't the only family member to drop her two cents. Smith's wife, Jada, discussed the controversy earlier this summer in an episode of her talk show, Red Table Talk. "My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile," the talk show host said. "The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that's to keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening."
