If Sibling Goals Were a Thing, Jaden and Willow Smith Would Define Them

Willow on why older generations have trouble understanding them: "It seems like they don't understand our thought process. Or, like, things have happened in the past that they're still mad about. We want to accept them and move forward. I mean, I can definitely see things that have happened in the past that they're holding on to and things that are happening right now that bog them down, but this generation wants to transcend them."

Willow on her biggest role models: "My parents. Growing up, all I saw was my parents trying to be the best people they could be, and people coming to them for wisdom, coming to them for guidance, and them not putting themselves on a pedestal, but literally being face-to-face with these people and saying, 'I'm no better than you, but the fact that you're coming to me to reach some sort of enlightenment or to shine a light on something, that makes me feel love and gratitude for you.' They always give back what people give to them. And sometimes they keep giving and giving and giving. And some people don't feel like they need to give anything back because it's like, 'Oh, if you're famous, you can just keep giving, and it doesn't matter.' It's not just about money. It's not just about giving people gifts or whatever. What my parents have given to me is not anything that has to do with money or success or anything that society says people should be focusing on — it's something spiritual that only certain people can grasp and accept. And that's how I act and move in the world today."

Willow on being close to her brother: "It's crazy, the sibling dynamic. I could've spent my entire childhood like, 'I have to love this person.' And it becomes a chore. But our parents were never like, 'You have to love them.' It was more like, 'You have your life. He has his life. And when you guys want to come together, when you guys want to commune, that's up to you.' And throughout us realizing ourselves and realizing each other, we just opened our eyes and were like, 'Damn, you are the yin to my yang.' Not a lot of siblings have that opportunity, because they're always being pushed together so much. They need their time apart in order to realize themselves and realize who they are."

Jaden on fame: "How people look at us in public is not how we actually are in private. It's just that we choose not to tell everyone everything. Like, okay, I'm in New York right now. I'm not posting an emoji of a plane on Instagram, like, 'New York.' I don't want anyone to know that I'm here in New York. And by the time this comes out, I won't be. We don't like people to really know what's happening with us or what we're into. The only thing that we want to keep people updated with is that we want to keep the kids that are following us, the kids that are looking up to us updated on what we're learning and what we're thinking about life."

Willow on her relationship with social media: "Even for people like us who have an awareness that's slightly more awakened, it still takes over your mind. And you find yourself randomly going on your phone for no reason, randomly doing things. It becomes compulsive, and you have to start asking yourself, 'Whoa, what is the real reason for me checking my Instagram every five minutes? What is the real reason for me posting this photo right now?' I never want to do things impulsively that have no meaning or intent, especially on social media."

Jaden on how "Willow is better at everything": "Willow started making music first. I was like, 'My younger sister is, like, 4, and she's making all these fire songs. What's happening?' Willow was doing all these things, about to have record label deals at like the age of 6, and I was like, 'I feel like I'm underachieving.' That was around the time that I was doing Karate Kid, and I could do flips, and I thought I was special because I could do flips. But Willow could do the flips, too! Willow naturally had it. Like, I was trying to do no-handed cartwheels. Willow had it. I was trying to get to the studio. Willow was in the studio. You know what I'm saying? Willow just didn't have as big as a passion for acting as me. But if she did, she could do what I did. So there's always been competition, but we've always worked as hard as possible to do the things that we want to do. We never got upset because we could always do the same thing. It happened so that me and Willow were able to go through every level or different section of life that we wanted to. If we wanted to act, we could act. If we wanted to dance, we were dancing. And we could do it on the level that we wanted to do it. So there was no, like, 'I'm mad at you.' Well, we would get mad at each other when we were young, but that stopped when we were, like, 9."