The 23-year-old singer-rapper gets candid about what it's like being considered a so-called 'nepo baby' and why she doesn't consider herself one in a new interview.
- May 4, 2024
AceShowbiz - Willow Smith acknowledged that she has privilege from having famous parents, but she refused to be called a "nepo baby." However, the "Wait a Minute!" hitmaker managed to see its silver linings by using the label as a motivation to work really hard.
The 23-year-old singer-rapper spoke up about the matter in a new interview with Allure. The topic came up after she disccussed how she deals with negativity, which she said echoes in her head from "the things that people have said to me" and are not necessarily her own thoughts.
Willow admitted she's "wrongly internalizing the negativity from the outside," and that the outside noise is rooted in people labeling her as a "nepo baby" because her parents are Oscar winner Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Still, people have it wrong.
"I truly believe that my spirit is a strong spirit," the rocker told the outlet, "and that, even if my parents weren't who they were, I would still be a weirdo and a crazy thinker."
"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," the musician continued. "That has driven me to work really hard to try to prove them wrong. But nowadays, I don't need to prove s**t to anybody."
Though so, Willow emphasized that her skin color also plays role in her life. "Being Black in America, even with privilege, which I'm never going to deny that I have, you're still Black," she claimed. "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.' And we all know that that doesn't exempt you from anything, and that's a place of connection."
