Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith has said that she was mom-shamed after her son Jaden began wearing skirts.
In the latest episode of her Facebook podcast Red Table Talk, Pinkett-Smith spoke with her co-hosts (daughter Willow Smith and mom Adrianne Banfield-Norrisabout) about the kind of toxic scrutiny she experienced over her parenting methods.
Jada revealed that the parenting criticism turned into a "firestorm" after Willow decided to shave her head, and after Jaden wore a skirt.
You can hear Jada share her mom-shaming experiences in the video below:
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Jada stated:
"When people are like: 'I can’t believe you shaved Willow’s head,' if they could have seen this child’s expression of freedom, looking at her hair falling to the ground. Me as a mom looking at that, experiencing that with her, there’s nothing anyone could say to me to tell me that it was wrong."
She continued:
"I think as Jaden got older, when he did the Louis Vuitton thing, he’s wearing a skirt and then he isn’t what people consider your typical Black man, what’s that supposed to mean?"
"It’s something we as a community need to learn to let go of. I know people felt like it’s dangerous, you are doing your kids a disservice. I knew that self-confidence is what helped me to survive."
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Jada also went on to say that another point of contention was her decision to homeschool Willow and Jaden, stating:
"I would have gotten shamed for leaving you here and not being with you. They weren’t raised typically and I think, especially for our community, it was something new. "
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Yet, despite the reproval she received, Jada says that she stands by all of her decisions, and is happy to let her two children live exactly the way they want to.
However, this isn't the first time that Pinkett-Smith has given her followers a candid insight into her family and personal life. Back in July, she shocked social media by revealing that she had had an affair with singer-songwriter August Alsina during a period of separation from her husband, Will Smith.