Jada Pinkett Smith opens her about her nervousness as a child: ‘It’s been a really trying period!’

Jada Pinkett Smith recently said that she discovered she had anxiety after witnessing her daughter Willow struggle with it.

The 50-year-old performer was joined by her 21-year-old daughter on a recent edition of Red Table Talk.

“It took me a long time to grasp Willow’s meaning. Just her nervousness, I mean. “I had a hard time relating to her because of two things: her lifestyle and how she was raised were quite different from mine, and I don’t know what it’s like to be a child in front of the camera,” she explained.

“And then just not knowing how to console her, not knowing what kind of aid she need, not understanding her behaviour,” she continued.

“I gnaw my fingernails down to the cuticles,” she explained. They didn’t claim it was anxiousness, though. That was it; I was a nail biter.”

“One thing I would say in dealing with and learning about her anxiety is that I’ve had to look at some of my own and my mother’s behaviours and say, well, of course I probably have some anxiety in regards to how I grew up,” Jada added.

“It’s still tough for me to be present for her in the way that she needs,” she says.