Will Smith has revealed that despite growing up in a household that generates tons of money, his 16-year-old son Jaden is not a product of his environment.
In fact, he has made a conscious effort to become the opposite what he could easily become: a spoiled rich kid.
“He has refused to be a slave to money. I so respect that,” the Focus star told Esquire about his teenage son. “The younger generation is less of an ownership generation, anyway."
As an example, Smith said Jaden only owns one pair of shoes. He also only has five shirts and three pairs of pants in his closet.
Smith is proud of him but joked, “But I would like him to get another pair of shoes."
He went on to describe his own upbringing as "middle-class,” but “our lights and gas would be cut off from not paying the bill” from time to time.
“He’s from the complete other end of the spectrum,” he said, “And it's so interesting to me that from growing up in that space, he could see the need for things in a way that he's rejecting. He's like, 'I'm not gonna let myself need
things in that way.' "
Jaden and his sister, Willow, certainly have a unique perspective on the world, which they demonstrated in a bizarre Q&A with T Magazine for the New York Times in November.
image via INFphoto.com