Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow Smith both struggled to forgive their...

Jada Pinkett Smith and her daughter Willow Smith are closely related. They both struggled with the same things as depression throughout their lives. One thing fans may not know is that both actors struggled to forgive their fathers for many years of their lives.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s father was absent from her childhood

Jada’s mother, Adrienne Norris-Banfield, and father, Robsol Pinkett Jr., had them when they were in high school. They married young and only stayed together for a few months. Her father also had another child, Caleeb Pinkett, but left his mother when he was two years old.

The Matrix star invited her half-brother Caleeb to her talk show. Red Table Talkto discuss how difficult it is for both of them to forgive their father.

“He told me, ‘I’d rather be high up than your father,’” Caleeb recalls of Robsol, who died in 2010.

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Jada recalls how much Robsol struggled with addiction and fell off the wagon many times in her life.

“He told me at 7,” adds Jada. ‘I can’t be your father. I am a criminal. I’m addicted and that’s exactly what it is. ”

Both Jada and Caleeb were very upset with their father. Before he died, the siblings tried to help him after a relapse, but tried hard to forgive him.

Willow Smith admits it took her several years to forgive Will

“I definitely had to forgive you and Daddy for the whole ‘Whip My Hair’ thing,” Willow explained during the Red Table Talk. “It was mostly Daddy because he was so tough at certain times. In all honesty, it was like a couple of years trying to regain confidence because I felt like I wasn’t being heard. ”

At the age of 9, Willow recorded the hit single “Whip My Hair”, which was an instant hit. However, when the young girl went on tour and realized how much work it was, she was not happy.

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While touring the album, Willow wanted to quit, but Will insisted that she finish what she had started. Then she rebelliously shaved her head. It took her many years to forgive her father for moving on when she was not happy.

Jada and Willow realized that they had to forgive themselves

“I had to learn to stop focusing on what wasn’t going well,” said Jada.

It took her many years, but the actor learned to see what is going well in her life.

“I had to forgive myself,” Willow realized. “I felt guilty because everyone is trying to make me better, to make my dream come true, but I didn’t understand what my dream meant.”

Both women admit that in order to forgive someone else they must first forgive themselves.