by
posted in Celebrities
Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, are well known for marching to their own parenting beat. Their two children together, 17-year-old Jaden and 15-year-old Willow, give unusual interviews and speak freely of their disdain for school -- and sometimes I get the impression these famous parents feel as though they have things figured out.
When I picture Will and Jada at home with their kids there isn't sweat popping out on their brows or tension-clenched jaws. They're relaxed, inspired and dreaming up an artsy way to welcome the next supermoon.
One shouldn't make too many assumptions, however.
"Your kids seem to have a lot of freedom of expression," BBC Radio 1Xtra host A.Dot recently said to Will Smith during an interview before asking, "Is that something that you consciously encourage them to have?"
"Yeah, I think it may have been a mistake," the actor laughed in reply. "I think we may have gone too far."
Jokes aside though, Will did have some thoughts to share on Jaden's gender-fluid style. You'll recall the young star started wearing dresses in 2015, and recently surprised everyone by being named the new face of Louis Vuitton's womenswear campaign.
"You know, there's a really powerful internal quality as an artist that as parents we encourage," Will Smith went on to say. "You gotta get out on the edge, you have to try things, you have to be comfortable doing things that people don't agree with and you have to be comfortable doing things that you could fail."
"And Jaden is 100 percent fearless, he will do anything, you know? So as a parent it's scary, it's really terrifying, but he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions and he just doesn't concern himself with what people think."
Is it wrong that I find comfort in hearing this parenting thing is nerve-wracking for Will and Jada, too?
I suppose the root of the feeling is a nagging suspicion I could have done (could be doing) better. Though the Smith family is a bit kooky at times, I more often than not find myself admiring their question-everything style. The way they experiment with their looks, spend time together and support their kids' interests is all commendable -- but I suspect the truth is I'd rather be one of their kids than raise one of them.
It's like I want my kids to have the same artsy don't-care-what-other-people-think confidence as Jaden and Willow, but I totally get what Will is saying about it being frightening. Not playing by the rules means there's no script for what's going to come next.
Photo: Buckner/Variety/REX/Shutterstock
11 young celebrities who don’t identify as straight or gay:
Lily Rose Depp, daughter of actor Johnny Depp, identified herself as sexually fluid as part of the Self Evident Truths art project in 2015.
A message from the project's page explained, "I’m so proud of my baby girl @lilyrose_depp. She decided she wanted to be in @selfevidentproject because she falls somewhere on the vast spectrum, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to the family. She’s a tiny gem of a good human. #prouduncle #weareyou.”
(WWD/REX/Shutterstock)
Rowan Blanchard made headlines in early 2016 for opening up about her sexuality. The Girl Meets World star shared, "In my life [I've] only ever liked boys. However I personally don’t wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with—just existing… Yes, [I'm] open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer."
PFLAG elaborates on the word by sharing: “Think of queer as an umbrella term. It includes anyone who a) wants to identify as queer and b) who feels somehow outside of the societal norms in regards to gender or sexuality. This, therefore, could include the person who highly values queer theory concepts and would rather not identify with any particular label, the gender fluid bisexual, the gender fluid heterosexual, the questioning LGBT person, and the person who just doesn’t feel like they quite fit in to societal norms and wants to bond with a community over that.”
(PR Photos)
In early 2016, Amandla Stenberg said the following while being interviewed by Solange Knowles:
“It’s a really really hard thing to be silenced and it’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and to mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn’t be in. As someone who identifies as a black, bisexual woman I’ve been through it, and it hurts, and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable…but then I realized because of Solange and Ava DuVernay and Willow and all the black girls watching this right now, that there’s absolutely nothing to change.
We cannot be suppressed. We are meant to express our joy and our love and our tears and be big and bold and definitely not easy to swallow…Here I am being myself and it’s definitely hard and vulnerable and it’s definitely a process but I’m learning and I’m growing.”
(PR Photos)
When asked if she was dating her male Divergent costar, actress Shailene Woodley frankly told The Hollywood Reporter, "I fall in love with human beings based on who they are, not based on what they do or what sex they are."
(PR Photos)
Songstress Kesha insisted to Seventeen that she falls in love with a person's "sprit" rather than their gender.
"I don’t love just men. I love people," she explained. "It’s not about a gender. It’s just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you’re with."
(PR Photos)
Ezra Miller also identifies as queer, choosing the term as a descriptor for himself in a 2012 issue of Out.
The actor, whom you may recognize from The Perks of Being a Wallflower and We Need to Talk About Kevin, later elaborated, "I think there are a lot of people who fall on this open spectrum of sexuality. My friends and I use that word as an all-encompassing banner and for every human being. There should be an ongoing question and investigation of who you love and everything that’s involved with that very tricky and beautiful thing."
(PR Photos)
Keke Palmer let her video do the talking in 2015. Referring to how in "I Don't Belong to You" she's seen walking out on a guy and ends up knocking on a woman's door the singer and actress told People:
The video was to represent the young woman today — it's not the traditional woman anymore — and not the specifics of "Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi?" I'm making the rules for myself, and I don't have to be stuck down to one label ... I don't feel the need to define nothin' to nobody, because I'm always changing. Why say that I'm this or that when I might not be tomorrow? I'm gonna follow my own feelings and my own heart.
(PR Photos)
Miley Cyrus has made it clear she has no problem being open about her sexuality, and she chooses to be vocal so that others who are struggling to fit in might find some comfort.
Telling Elle UK about being pansexual (somebody who open to either falling in love and or being sexually attracted to people of all genders) the singer said in 2015, "I’m very open about it — I’m pansexual. But I’m not in a relationship. I’m 22, I’m going on dates, but I change my style every two weeks, let alone who I’m with."
She later told Paper, "I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn’t involve an animal and everyone is of age. Everything that’s legal, I’m down with. Yo, I’m down with any adult — anyone over the age of 18 who is down to love me. I don’t relate to being boy or girl, and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl."
(PR Photos)
Though Ruby Rose came out as a lesbian at age 12, she grew up as a child with gender nonconformity. She told News Corp Australia, "I am very gender fluid and feel more like I wake up every day sort of gender neutral."
The Orange is the New Black star went on to share, "Whether straight, gay, bi, trans... body image and identity can be a struggle for us all."
(PR Photos)
After Vogue implied Cara Delevingne's bisexuality was a phase when she told the mage she was in love with a woman, the actress clarified to The New York Times: "My sexuality is not a phase. I am who I am."
"I haven't made a concrete decision about anything," the Paper Towns star also told People. "Every day, I change. Every day, I'm discovering new things about myself."
(PR Photos)
Twilight star Kristen Stewart told Nylon, "If you feel like you really want to define yourself, and you have the ability to articulate those parameters and that in itself defines you, then do it. But I am an actress, man. I live in the f--king ambiguity of this life and I love it. I don't feel like it would be true for me to be like, 'I'm coming out!'"
She went on to add, "I think, in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don't think it's necessary to figure out if you're gay or straight. It's like, just do your thing."
(PR Photos)
No comments:
Post a Comment