Willow Smith says she grew up seeing her mum Jada Pinkett Smith deal with death threats and racism

‘Some crazy stuff went down when she was touring with her band,’ musician says

Willow Smith has opened up about “the intense racism and sexism” she saw her mother Jada Pinkett Smith face while on tour with her nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom.

The 20-year-old singer travelled with the band from the age of four to 10 where she saw her mother getting “so much hate”.

“It was intense racism and sexism, just packed onto the tens,” she told L’Officiel. “People giving her death threats, throwing glass at her onstage. Some crazy stuff went down when she was touring with her band.”

As Willow works in the same industry her mother comes from, she said she was reminded of the difficulties she might face in the same business.

The “Lipstick” singer explained that looking at the hate “firsthand”, she was scared, and she “internalised a little bit”.

“Every time I feel that [insecurity] coming on, I just go back to my memories of my mom and how she would deal with actual physical danger—she just rose above it,” she said.

“Obviously, she was scared. But she really showed me what ‘womaning up’ really was, by taking a stance and not being afraid of other people’s judgments and perceptions. I really wanted to just go within that place in myself and try something new, regardless of what my insecurities were.”

During a Mother’s Day special episode of Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook show Red Table Talk, Willow surprised Pinkett-Smith by paying a special homage to her Wicked Wisdom days.

She performed the song “Bleed All Over Me”, which she would watch her mother perform when she was on tour with her.

“My heart burst in a thousand different ways having my daughter honour me in this way,” Pinkett-Smith wrote of the performance.