In a new interview, the 22-year-old performer shares that he thinks that COVID-19 lockdown helps bring awareness to 'the different mental health issues in the world right now.'
- Jul 28, 2020
AceShowbiz - Jaden Smith is opening up about his battle with anxiety amid Coronavirus pandemic. The 22-year-old rapper revealed in a new interview with Apple Music that he just discovered what anxiety is, adding that he's "stressed about everything."
"The anxiety is going through the roof for everybody, and it's crazy," the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith told Zane Lowe. "And I never really knew what anxiety was until recently, either."
"The Karate Kid" actor went on to say that while he didn't have an episode too often, it greatly affected him when it happened. "It doesn't happen to me too much, but when it does, it happens," he shared, adding, "It's very strong ... Sometimes it's work-related, and then sometimes, you can really see that it's that true, genuine anxiety, where it's just like anything and everything." As to how to get over it, Jaden said that "talking about it with people is the best way."
He also thought that COVID-19 lockdown helped bring awareness to "the different mental health issues in the world right now, because we're all being isolated with ourselves, so we are very much so being confronted with our thoughts. Some people are okay with that, and some people aren't."
During the interview, he also discussed his music career and his decision to go by Jaden only. "I realized that Willow changed her name to Willow at some point in time. And that she was no longer Willow Smith," he explained. "Yeah, it took me a while. It took me a while. Because if you look Willow Smith up, it'll still come up."
"But then it took me a while to see that it was just Willow. And I was like, 'Yo. That's so strong.' You feel like you don't have to say your last name. You're just Willow," he continued. "I create different characters for myself... and it's like, Jaden, that's music, and Jaden Smith, that's 501(c)(3) [and] that's acting in movies. I wanted to just make that little distinction there, just a little bit."
