Will Smith told daughter Willow he was 'happy' she didn't have curvy figure
The teenager revealed she sometimes feels jealous of other women's bodies
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Your support makes all the difference.American actor Will Smith told his daughter he was “happy” she didn’t have a curvy figure because he wants men to focus on her brain.
During an episode of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Red Table Talk, the actress, her mother, Adrienne Banfield, and her daughter, Willow, sat down to discuss body insecurities.
Here, the three women conversed about everything from cellulite and armpit hair to Pinkett-Smith’s “terrifying” battle with alopecia.
But, there was one segment of the conversation that Pinkett-Smith said really stuck with her daughter.
During the candid roundtable discussion, 17-year-old Willow recalled a dialogue she had with her father, Will Smith, where he revealed he was glad she didn’t have a curvy body so she wouldn’t have to worry about being objectified by men.
"He was so happy that, you know, I wasn't curvy, because guys look at girls,” she recalled.
“He said that dudes look at the mind of a skinny girl before they look at their body.”
The teen later opened up about how social media can make her feel jealous of curvier women and that she sometimes feels undesirable.
“I, in my own life struggled, curvier women and curvier girls have always gotten more attention from the boys that I’ve liked and have ended up dating the boys that I’ve liked,” she explained.
“Then you start to wonder, ‘Dang am I just not desirable? Is my body just not what society likes?’ So it does just get really hard for a lot of girls.”
Willow’s mother and grandmother attempted to comfort her by explaining that they went through the same things when they were younger.
“'I had the same struggle”, Pinkett-Smith said.
“I used to hate wearing shorts. I used to think my legs were so skinny. I remember [Adrienne] going: ‘Jada, you have beautiful legs!’
“And then I hear myself telling Willow the same thing: ‘Willow, you've got beautiful legs!’ You know?”
Banfield added: “Oh, yeah, because we're little people. We're little people, and when we - both of us - when we were really young, we were like string beans.”
Willow also detailed how her friends that are curvy tell her she is lucky to be able to wear certain clothes without feeling exposed.
“They are telling me: ‘It's so great that you can just, like, wear some shorts and a tank top and not feel, like, overexposed or feel like people are looking at you differently or feel like...."
“People are looking at you in a sexual manner,” her mother finished.
“Exactly,” Willow agreed, “even more than they usually would, you know? Everyone wants what they don't have.”
Pinkett-Smith concluded by saying: “I don't know if that'll ever change, though. I really don't.”
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