How can we ask for our young stars to have a high level of responsibility if we are not demonstrating that same level of responsibility towards them?
— Jada Pinkett Smith
I find fame to be quite unnatural. Humans are not built for extreme adoration.
I don't get afraid in talking about subject matter that may spark controversy, and I'm not afraid to not be liked. I think that sometimes people pay too much attention to being liked, and it's paralyzing.
I don't really cook much. I'm more of a baker. My favorite things to bake that everybody loves, and I can only keep in the house for about ten minutes, are 7-Up cake and Pineapple Upside-Down cake.
Art should never be limited - the beauty of art is that it gives us the freedom to go places where we wouldn't go to in our normal lives. Inside, I'm just so many different people. I go from the pretty girl on the red carpet to the singer at Ozzfest, spitting in the crowd. That's Jada.
When I believe in something, I'm very passionate. I don't take 'no' for an answer.
I think that old school style of 'I'm your parent and I'm greater than you' doesn't work. What I establish with my children is a partnership.
Will and I are yin and yang. He's all sky, vast and bright and soaring, and I'm all earth. I'm here to ground him, and he's here to help me fly.
Tupac and I were just close friends because we had such an insatiable drive and passion for acting and entertainment.
You know, as I get older, personal happiness is all about love. It's all about love. You know, how I'm loved and how I love my family and my husband. That to me is happiness, when I feel like I am loved and I have a place to love deeply. That to me is happiness.
It's not about what you tell your children, but how you show them how to live life.
I think that with marriages, people have to understand that you have to look at your marriage and understand what is needed in your marriage - not what people think your marriage should be or what people want your marriage to be.
Love and honesty are the things that make a good wife and mother.
We have to nurture our young women and understand the beauty and the strength of being a woman. It's kind of a catch-22: Strength in women isn't appreciated, and vulnerability in women isn't appreciated. It's like, 'What the hell do you do?' What you do is you don't allow anyone to dictate who you are.
I just think, as women, we have to give ourselves room to be individuals. So when a woman makes a decision for herself, we as women shouldn't set those hardcore boundaries for another woman. Just like we don't want men setting hardcore boundaries for us.
Take responsibility about what you have on your TV, and about what you are out there supporting.
When I'm tired, I rest. I say, 'I can't be a superwoman today.'
If I had my way, I'd wear jewelry, a great pair of heels and nothing else.
I met my husband, Will Smith, when I was 19 and auditioned to be his date on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' They said I was too short to play the part.
I'm the glue that keeps it all together. I'm the nucleus of an entertainment family. My day-to-day is making decisions to keep life above water.
It's very important to prioritize. I know, for me, my family comes first. That makes every decision very easy.
Nobody I know would have expected me to marry Will, and nobody he knows would have expected him to marry me because we are so opposite. Yet we're perfect for each other.
I really look at children as being little people and not necessarily things or people to control.
I think, as women, we have to stop being scared to be the women we want to be and we have to raise our daughters to be the women they want to be - not the women we think they should be.
Willow and I definitely talked about doing a collaboration. She really loves rock music, so she wants to come on and get crazy with me on a track. Which I would love, because she has a fantastic voice.
I don't think I've made my favorite film yet. But I loved 'Bamboozled.' 'Bamboozled' to me is off the chain. It's definitely in the ranking. I loved 'Bamboozled.'
Controversy is always a beautiful thing. I love controversy and I try to fan it as much as I can without having my husband's head pop off!
I definitely want to make it very clear to everybody that the educational institution that we have, the school that Will and I have, is not a Scientology school. And that, you know, I know there's been, you know, a lot of buzz around that idea and that it is not my desire to, you know, teach Scientology at all.
I would say Will came at a time in my life where he saw beauty in me that I didn't see in myself at the time. And, you know, he saw a diamond in the rough and kind of, picked me up and blew off all the dust and said, 'I'm telling you, I'm going to make you shine, girl.'
At 3 years old, I was telling people that I was going to be a star. I never had a plan B. And I've never compromised my integrity to get what I have.
When I was growing up, my mother only put her foot down once: She said, 'You are going to college.' And that was a lifesaving moment. But she never talked to me about my clothes or hair. So I learned how to parent my kids through her.
Here's the thing, men have to also mature in how they see women, too. Because they need to understand that it's not just about how we look, it's about who we are. And I am going to tell you like this, 'If you can't love me with short hair, and you telling me I got to have long hair to be loved, guess what, I ain't the one for you.'
I like a lot of metal music. So that's really what I listen to a lot. Or I listen to a lot of kind of off the cuff, like I love artists like Santigold, or Gold Frapp. Yeah. Pelican. Yeah.
You can be committed to somebody because of ego: 'I said I was going to be with this joker for the rest of my life, so I'm just going to do it.' Or you can be committed because you have a deeply rooted connection.
I love religion and have contemplated going back to school to get a world religion degree.
Know this, if someone has cheated on you who truly loves you, they have hurt themselves as much as they have hurt you.
Oh, I laugh hard every day. I mean, my husband is Will Smith! I'm telling you, that's one of the joys of being married to him. My life full of laughter. Thank God I have him. My life is full of laughter because of that man.
I would say being deeply involved in the art world would help keep a young artist on track. Doing what you love, so that your focus is your artistry.
It's not easy working with your husband, I'll be straight up about that. But when we work together, we always get great product. It's not easy in the process and as we go along it gets easier, but yeah, it gets a little sticky.
One of the reasons why I decided to participate in 'HawthoRNe' was I really wanted the opportunity to show how ordinary people do extraordinary things.
I can't cook! It's genetic. My grandmother can't cook, my mother can't cook. I was raised to believe you eat because your body needs fuel for energy, so I eat super foods.
My music is like my freedom space.
I'm not here to - as a parent, I believe we are specifically here to help our children mature in the way that they can take on their own lives. I'm not here to live their lives for them. That's not my job.
I might get some more animals or something, but I'm done with the kids. I got a boy, I got a girl, and I got an older boy. I'm straight.
I feel like, to me, art is a ladder to God, in my own opinion, you know. And so, for me, the more people that I can reach through many different artistic avenues, the better.
I've always wanted to have the ability to do what I want to do. And there are so many things that I want to do because I love acting, I love directing, I love producing, I love being a mother, I love being a wife. If I had to choose one, just would put me in the crazy house.
I do a lot of reading, meditating, and praying to stay as grounded as I can be in this crazy world.
People love in different ways. You may have a man who brings you flowers every Monday but doesn't give two hooty-hoots about Valentine's Day. Just because he doesn't give you a valentine doesn't mean he doesn't love you!
We have to understand that we should, at all times, have the right and the power to make decisions about our bodies. And that is an idea that must be taught at a young age. You can't wait until a person is 18 years old and say, 'Now you have the right'. You have to start that from the gate.
I never stop being a mother and I never stop being an artist. You understand? Which is probably why my kids are so creative, because it's not separated.
