Will Smith is opening up about a major parenting lesson he’s learned—and what he’d do differently when it comes to raising his kids, Jaden and Willow.
In a recent chat on Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda, the actor admitted that being brutally honest with his children may not have been the best approach.
“We made a very, very, very terrible mistake with our children and we went with radical honesty,” Smith confessed. “But don’t do it, I’m not advocating for it, I’m not advocating for it.”
He explained that early on, he and his wife made a pact with their kids: “The deal was if you tell the truth, you won’t get in trouble.”
Will Smith admitted that his “radical honesty” parenting style didn’t go as planned—especially with his youngest kids, Jaden and Willow.
“The only way you can get in trouble in this house is if we find out you did something and you don’t tell the truth,” he explained. “It’s a mistake, it’s terrible. Because they do whatever they want and then just come tell you. It’s awful—don’t try it. You want your kids to lie definitely, you don’t want to know some of the stuff your kids are thinking of doing.”
The 56-year-old star shares his oldest son, Trey (32), with ex-wife Sheree Zampino, and Jaden (26) and Willow (24) with Jada Pinkett Smith.
Smith also recently made his return to music with Based on a True Story – Season 1: Rave in the Wasteland, his first album in 20 years. The project includes the No. 1 gospel hit “You Can Make It” featuring Fridayy and the Sunday Service Choir, marking his first chart-topping single since 1998’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”
