In the latest episode of web series ‘Red Table Talk’, Willow Smith revealed to her mother and grandmother that she used to cut herself after the success of her 2010 hit song ‘Whip My Hair’.
Smith, now 17 years old, was very young at the time (9 years old) and says she “lost her sanity”. She then dropped out of her commitment to release an album.
This brings up important questions about the effects of celebrity on children, and on people in general. Child stars often deal with mental health issues, so much so that the child-star meltdown is a trope. Even those that don’t have public meltdowns, like Willow Smith, often go through very difficult times in silence.
Celebrity, or the search for it, usually requires a lot of self-centeredness, and gives a false sense of being more important than other people. When our beliefs and circumstances are “narcissistic” (“the world revolves around me”), it disconnects us from who we really are, causing a lot of cognitive dissonance. Our minds tell us something, but our souls know it’s not true. We long for a deeper connection to who we really are.
It’s even worse for children, who don’t have the maturity yet to deal with these complex emotions, with all the attention they receive, with the feeling that their worth and approval depend on how successful they are.
Being asked to constantly be productive and show “results” is a lot of pressure for a child.
Here’s to hope Willow feels much better now and will continue on her path to wisdom.
– Words by Nounouche
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Surviving Loss
This week around the Red Table, Jada Pinkett Smith reveals the impact of the tragic death of her longtime best friend, Tupac Shakur. While Willow Smith shares a painful secret for the first time. Follow Red Table Talk for episodes and updates, only on Facebook Watch.
Posted by Red Table Talk on Monday, May 14, 2018
