Actor Will Smith has opened up about his teenage son, Jaden Smith’s gender-fluid style in a new interview with BET, in which he says he has never seen a distinction when it comes to gender norms.
When asked about what advice he would give to other parents whose sons may prefer skirts to pants, the Oscar-nominated said: “First of all, I don’t give parenting advice per se, because it’s such a unique task. The greatest human task is to render a human being into the world,” he cautions. “What I do with my children, that I feel that the greatest gift that I can give my children is the freedom to be who they are.”
He continues, “Jada and I are very serious about finding what they are, and encouraging them to be what they are because you can never be happy being what you’re not.
He adds: “I feel like a lot of times, when I was growing up, I would see parents force a child to be what you want them to be. As a parent, if it’s an oak tree, I want it to grow as an oak tree. I’m not gonna try to force it to be an apple tree.”
Jaden, 18, was named the new face of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear campaign in January and donned a skirt for Vogue Korea.
“I don’t see man clothes and woman clothes,’ Jaden said of his gender-fluid style to British GQ Style.
“I feel like people are kind of confused about gender norms. I feel like people don’t really get it. I’m not saying that I get it, I’m just saying that I’ve never seen any distinction.”
