Will Smith’s “heart shattered” when Jaden asked to be emancipated
Will Smith has discussed the moment his “heart shattered” when his son Jaden asked him to be emancipated when he was 15 years old.
Writing in his new memoir, entitled Will, Smith looked back at the moment Jaden starred alongside him in the 2013 film After Earth. Will admitted that the film was both “an abysmal box office and critical failure” and felt Jaden was unfairly treated by the press following the movie.
Smith continued: “And what was worse was that Jaden took the hit. Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I’d instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he’d ever experienced.”
Smith explained that the experience changed their relationship, and he believed his son “felt betrayed”. The actor continued: “He felt misled, and he lost his trust in my leadership. At 15 years-old, when Jaden asked about being an emancipated minor, my heart shattered. He ultimately decided against it, but it sucks to feel like you’ve hurt your kids.”
In other Will Smith related news, earlier this year, Warner Bros announced plans for a sequel of 2007’s I am Legend, in which he will star once again. Smith will take production duties and star alongside Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan.
“This will start a few decades later than the first,” the film’s writer and producer Akiva Goldsman explained. “I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the empire state building, but the possibilities are endless.”
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