The 1 Person Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals She ‘Learned a Lot About Fatherhood’ From

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are one of the most famous couples in the world, along with their offspring. And though it might not surprise fans to know who Jada says she “learned a lot about fatherhood” from, she has a lot of “pain” when it comes to her own father. The way we are raised can change the way we want to be a parent as well. This is certainly the case for both Jada and Will.

Jada Pinkett Smith reveals that her father wasn’t part of her childhood

Jada and her father, Robsol Pinkett, Jr., didn’t have the best relationship. On an episode of Red Table Talk, Jada and her brother, Caleeb Pinkett, discuss their father, who dealt with addictions with both alcohol and drugs over the course of his life. The brother and sister have different mothers, growing up separately on two different coasts.

“But our father is a shared source of pain,” Jada explains. She says he “hurt” them “the most.”

Jada says they grew up “without” their father by their side. “He was not a part of our childhood, and we were forced to grow up without him,” Jada says. Their father died of an overdose, which was extremely hard for the brother and sister to cope with.

Caleeb says that their father and his mother divorced when he was only two-years-old. “He didn’t raise me,” he revealed. “So, when you don’t raise a child, you’re really leaving your child to the quote on quote ‘wolves.’ Right? Which is horrific, especially when the child cannot protect itself yet.”

Jada reveals she ‘learned a lot about fatherhood’ from this 1 person

On a separate episode of Red Table Talk, Jada and her husband, Will Smith, discuss fatherhood. Jada admits that she “learned a lot about fatherhood” from Will himself. Since Jada was forced to grow up without her father in her life, it makes sense that she learned a lot from watching her husband with their children.

“Having been a child that didn’t grow up with a father, I understood and felt the absence of not having a father,” Jada explains. “But I’ve learned a lot about fatherhood through you, watching you father.”

Will says that he wanted to be a father when he was just six-years-old. He goes on to explain his own father, Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., had “massive critical deficiencies” when it came to his parenting, and Will wanted to “correct” them. His father had a “temper,” and Will saw him psychically abuse his own mother.

“He showed me a lot of things that I wanted to do, but he also showed me the things I would absolutely, positively never do to my children,” Will explains.

Jada says that Will is “breaking” the “familial cycle” when it comes to his own parenting. “When I think about your father’s fathering of you, and this journey of your fathering, how you are breaking your familial cycle, and allowing it to evolve through your parenting,” Jada says.

Both Jada and Will experienced problems when it comes to their own fathers. Jada “learned a lot about fatherhood” through her husband, and it’s really a sweet thing for her to admit.