Jaden Smith is headed on the right track toward recovery. He has reportedly maintained a healthier weight following a family intervention from his parents, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, after photos of him looking thin and undernourished went viral.
According to US Weekly, Smith, 23, said Wednesday, Dec. 22, on an episode of Red Table Talk, he “definitely” feels better after his mom and dad motivated him to revise his diet. “I was able to work with the doctors and really get my vitamins and get my supplements and protein shakes,” he explained. “That’s half of my diet. It’s like a password that I have to find to my body.”
The Karate Kid star stated that he’s “10 pounds heavier now,” noting, “I feel like I’m keeping on my weight. I’m able to put on my muscle.”
In 2019, the Matrix actress, 50, and her husband, 53, disclosed that they had a “bit of an intervention” with their son when they believed his health was suffering because of his strict eating habits. “We realized he wasn’t getting enough protein,” Jada said in September of that year. “He was wasting away. He just looked drained, he was just depleted, he wasn’t getting the nutrients.”
Will chimed in and said that Jaden had “dark circles” under his eyes and developed a “grayness” tone to his skin. “We got really nervous,” he added.
At the time, the Baltimore native said that he was diverting back and forth between vegan and vegetarian diets, but he revealed that he probably wasn’t eating enough each day. “I was just eating, like, two meals a day … maybe one,” he explained. “Maybe just that one big meal and I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, I didn’t get around to it.'”
While Jaden has expressed his feelings regarding his parents publicly sharing details surrounding his intervention, noting on Wednesday that he was glad to handle his nutritional needs in a better way, US Weekly reported.
“That was a long way from where I was when I was at Coachella, where I just was just, like, bones,” he said on Red Table Talk, referencing his April 2019 appearance at the musical festival. “I thought I was so tight! I was like, ‘This. I’m swagging on this. Like, I need to take off my shirt right now.'”
Earlier this year, Jaden’s sister, Willow Smith, discussed moments involving her mental health during an episode of “The Yungblud Podcast.” The “Whip My Hair” singer, 21, said she didn’t know if releasing new music had helped her heal from some of the anxiety she faced as a child star.
“For so long, I had a lot of fear that was just, like, in my heart, and just sitting there. I felt extremely unsafe in my music career in the past, and that feeling of insecurity or un-safety — I just didn’t feel protected, which went really deep,” she said in July. “And now I’m kind of going back in, and it’s so interesting because all of those memories and emotions have just been resurfacing.”
New episodes of Red Table Talk are available to stream via Facebook Watch on Wednesdays.
