Jada Pinkett Smith Says She Was Devastated When Her Son Asked To Be Legally Emancipated At Age 15

Jada Pinkett Smith’s latest episode of Red Table Talk caused quite the stir. Jada opened up about when her son, Jaden, asked to be legally emancipated at the young age of 15.

Jada brought her son onto the show to revisit the moment, alongside her daughter, Willow, and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones.

“At 15 years old, Jaden, and I remember this day specifically, it’s probably one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. You got to a point where you told me straight up, you were like, ‘Mom, I have to leave here to live my life.'”

“I remember thinking to myself, as devastated as I was, I was like, ‘He’s right.’ The time is now.

He’s 15. It’s time for him to leave the house.”

In the end, Jaden decided not to go through with the emancipation. But that’s not because Jada or Will stopped him.

Any parent would likely be crushed to hear that their child no longer wanted to live with them.

But on Red Table Talk, Jada and her family explained that things weren’t so conventional in the Smith household growing up.

Jaden was Jada’s first-born child; he was born in 1998. From the beginning, Will and Jada wanted to offer their children the independence to be themselves.

Even if that meant moving out at 15? Well…

Jaden IS a pretty special kid. And Jada says she understood that growing up as a famous, wealthy child can feel uncomfortably sheltered.

“Being in this lifestyle, in this world is a bubble and he wanted out. I understood that because I didn’t have the bubble.”

Jada grew up working-class in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I knew what having my freedom outside the bubble, what I gained from that,” Jada explained to her mom, Adrienne, who had a much more traditional view on parenting.

“I knew the sooner I let him go, the faster he was going to come back,” Jada said. Sage advice, Mama Jada!

And, it seems, her approach worked. Jaden decided to live at home longer – after all, he had everything he needed there, as he explained in an interview when he was 14.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jaden said

“Every child needs something different,” said Jada. She says she knew Jaden was unusually independent from the time that he was a young child.

Other folks, however, have mixed feelings about her parenting approach.

Some fans feel that 15 is WAY too young to move into your own home.

“He’s still a kid,” said one Twitter user. Another agreed: “Still a child.”

Others tried to put the age into perspective: No matter how mature you are at 15, you can’t even get into an R-rated movie alone! How could you run a household?

Other fans put themselves in Jaden’s shoes.

On the other hand, some fans didn’t see the big deal. Some teens do live on their own at a young age, whether by choice or by necessity.

And, it seems, raising your kids this way doesn’t lead to disaster – Willow and Jaden aren’t the only examples.

Other fans pointed out an important fact: Will and Jada’s kids are growing up under much different circumstances than most families.

If nothing else, Jada’s controversial statement prompted parents to think about their own approach to parenting — with some light bulb moments to boot.

Now 19 years old, Jaden has been out of his parents’ house since 2017 — but he comes back to visit from time to time