Jada Pinkett-Smith Shares That She Suffers From Anxiety

Jada Pinkett-Smith revealed that she suffers from anxiety.

During the recent ‘Red Table Talk’ episode, Jada shared some things about her mental health. The actress says she didn’t realize she had anxiety until she began raising her daughter, Willow. Jada added that she used to bite her fingernails and chew her cuticles but didn’t think it was connected to the disorder. She also said that she used to experience crying spells that would “trigger” her mother.

Jada later said that learning about Willow’s anxiety helped her deal with her own.

“Recently, we had a talk, and she was like, ‘I never knew that I actually experienced anxiety,’” Willow said during the show. “She was pushing it down for so many years like she had no idea.”

Willow also shared that having open conversations with Jada allowed her to forgive her mom for dismissing her mental health.

“I had to forgive her a little bit for being like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah … I get it, but it’s really not that bad,’” the 21-year-old added.

She continued, “It was rough. I feel like when I was growing up, she didn’t understand my anxiety. Because she, growing up, had seen her friends die … she had been through so much stuff that my issues, to her, kind of felt like … [smaller].”

Nevertheless, Jada says that she’s reevaluating her family and their behaviors to recognize a “cycle of generational anxiety.”

It’s not clear when the episode was filmed precisely, but it was recorded before the Oscars incident. “The Red Table Talk” has previously said they will address the altercation sometime in the future.

“Considering all that has happened in the last few weeks, the Smith family has been focused on deep healing,” a title card said at the beginning of the episode on April 20th.  “Some of the discoveries around our healing will be shared at the table when the time calls. Until then, the table will continue offering itself to powerful, inspiring, and healing testimonies like that of our incredibly impressive first guest.”