While it might not come as a surprise that a 24-year-old from a wealthy family has tried drugs, what is a surprise (in this case) is who introduced him to them.
Singer Jaden Smith recently spoke at the Psychedelic Science conference and discussed how using psychedelic drugs has been beneficial for him.
The son of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith said he takes them to help him be more empathetic and credits his mother for introducing them to his family.
"I think it was my mum, actually, that was really the first one to make that step for the family," he said earlier this week.
"It was just her [using them] for a really, really long time and then eventually it just trickled and evolved and everybody found it in their own ways."
Jada, 51, shares Jaden and daughter Willow, 22, with her husband Will. The King Richard actor, 54, also has a 30-year-old son Trey with his ex-wife Sheree Zampino.
Watch: Jada Pinkett Smith talks about her sex addiction. Post continues below.
During the conference, Jaden explained how taking the drug has strengthened his relationships with his sister and half-brother.
"Siblings can argue so much and fight so much, and lord knows me and my siblings have done so much of that in the past," he said.
"But the level of love and empathy that I can feel for them inside of the (psychedelic) experiences and outside of the experiences has been something that's profound and beautiful."
He added: "It will actually help us to open up our minds to get out of the old ways of thinking that got us into lots of these arguments and open it up so that it just releases and makes room for you to work it out and massage it out until it’s completely gone."
The singer has previously spoken about experimenting with magic mushrooms.
"I believe that mushrooms are going to help us expand consciousness," he told Mr Porter Journal in 2022, adding that his hallucinations inspired his clothing collection, Trippy Summer.
"It’s loaded with spiritual experiences and mystical states. We’re just making clothes that can go along with people’s journeys," he said.
Meanwhile, his family have also spoken about their relationship with drugs.
In 2021, during her Facebook Watch talk show, Red Table Talk, Jada opened up about being an addict who moves on from one addiction to the next.
At first, it was sex, then the gym, then alcohol and drugs.
She spoke about one incident where she passed out on the set of The Nutty Professor in 1996 after taking ecstasy.
"I went to work high and it was a bad batch of ecstasy," she recalled.
"And I passed out and I told everybody that I must have had old medication in a vitamin bottle. But I’ll tell you what I did, though. I got my a** together and got on that set. That was the last time."
Jada later admitted to taking psychedelics for her mental health.
"I struggled with depression for so long. And the thing about the plant medicine is it helps you feel better but also solves the problems of how you got there in the first place."
Will Smith has admitted to doing ayahuasca 14 times in Peru over a two-year period around 2011.
Speaking to David Letterman in 2022, he shared how he saw visions of his family and career crumbling.
(In case you're wondering, it was recorded before he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.)
"I realised that anything that happens in my life, I can handle it," he told the late-night talk show host.
"I can handle any person I lose, I can handle anything that goes wrong in my life, I can handle anything in my marriage, I can handle anything that this life has to offer.
"That’s part of the psychological training that happens in ayahuasca."
Despite introducing her son to psychedelics, Jada has previously said addiction runs in her family, sharing that her mum was a former heroin addict.
"She couldn't make it on time to pick me up from school, or she's nodding off, falling asleep in the middle of something. You just realise, oh, that's not being tired, that's like, a drug problem."
Her mother has been 27 years clean.
Feature image: Getty.
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