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Jaden Smith has a plan. The 22-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith knows where he wants to be in 2025. It’s not headlining popular music festivals or creating his own fashion label. Rather it’s quite the opposite. Smith wants to ditch red carpets and say goodbye to life in the public eye. 

Jaden Smith’s admitted to struggling with life as the child of a celebrity

Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, and Tryy Smith attend hte VH1 'Dear Mama' taping
Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, and Tryy Smith attend hte VH1 Dear Mama taping | Donna Ward/Getty Images

Growing up in the public eye came with money and fame but also some challenges for him. As previously noted, Smith felt uncomfortable being a celebrity kid.

He opened up about being the son of celebrities on a 2020 episode of Red Table Talk with his mom, Pinkett Smith, and his younger sister, Willow Smith. 

He explained that he wanted to experience life outside of being the child of a celebrity, which is also part of the reason he emancipated himself at 16.

“You’re not a normal human if you can’t go out into the world,” he told his mom when she asked about growing up “privileged as famous actors’ children.” 

He continued, saying the simple act of eating at a restaurant can be tricky to navigate. 

“I don’t know how things always work. I always get nervous at the end of dinner. How do you have dinner with a group of people? When I have dinner with my dad, he orders everything on the menu, and then he pays for everything, and then he leaves. So it’s like — Is that how we do? Does everyone expect me to do that?”

He wants to be ‘gone’ from public life and ‘helping the world’ in 2025

Smith talked about his future during a 2015 interview with GQ. Asked where he thought he’d be in 10 years, the then-17-year-old said he planned on being “gone.” Explaining what he meant by that he said he wants to lead a more private life.

“No one will know where I am in 10 years,” he said. “They’ll see me pop up, but they’ll be like, ‘Where’d you come from?’ No one will know. No one will know where I’m at. No one will know who I’m with. No one will know what I’m doing.”

Jaden Smith at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards
Jaden Smith at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards | Rich Fury/MTV VMAs 2020/Getty Images for MTV
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“I’ve been planning that since I was like 13,” he added. 

Smith continued, saying he intends to help people through art.

“It’ll be kind of like Banksy. But in a different way. More of a social impact. Helping people. But through art installations,” he said.

“It’ll be like, ‘This just happened that helped a bunch of people over here. We don’t know who did it, but these symbols and things were left around, so we can only guess that it’s Jaden and the squad,’” he said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just dedicating my whole life to helping the world.” 

Jaden Smith’s currently focused on his music career

As of 2020, Smith has yet to retreat from public life. He’s on social media and he continues to release new music.

In 2019, he released his album, Erys, and went on tour with his sister. When he’s not recording songs he’s attending fashion shows or working on providing clean water to communities through his foundation, JUST.

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