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Will Smith has quashed rumours that his son and co-star of After Earth asked to be emancipated from the family for his 15th birthday.
Will has said that comments he made in jest about his son wanting to fly the nest were taken out of context: “He says ‘Dad, I want to be emancipated.’ He really wants to have his own place.”
But the two have put the rumours to rest, with Jaden offering up a reasonable explanation why any 14-year-old would want to stay at home. He said “I’m not going anywhere. The thing that people don’t get is everything at this house is free.”
“I can get anything and everything at his house, so I’m going to be there for another 20, 30 years. He says as soon as I have a movie that’s bigger than one of his movies, I can get my own house.”
Will and wife Jada Pinkett Smith have two children together, actor Jaden, 14 and pop singer Willow, 12.
Speaking on their alternative approach to parenting, the Fresh Prince star explained how they like to take a back seat and let their children make their own decisions.
“We generally don’t believe in punishment. From the time Jaden was five or six we would sit him down and all he had to do was explain why what he did was the right thing for his life.
“I think it’s much more difficult to ask someone -‘why was that right?’ – than try to show them that it was wrong.
“The rule in our house is you can do anything that you want and we don’t pull the parent card until danger is involved.”
His approach to parenting differs greatly from his own upbringing, with a Father who was previously in the US Air Force.
“I was brought up with, ‘you don’t even talk to your parents about what your opinion is, you are not allowed to have an opinion.’
“If kids want to have command of their lives I understand.”
Not every aspect of their upbringing is different, he explained. Will,44, grew up working in the family’s refrigeration installation company in Philadelphia and says Jaden’s no different for wanting to step out of his Father’s shadow.
“A big part of my relationship with my father and my relationship with Jaden is similar in that I was raised in the family business…it’s just that the family business is entertainment.”
“To make a movie like After Earth we had to be together every day on the set.
“There were a couple of scenes that represented, for me, probably my individual worst display of parenting in cinematic history. I told (Jaden) that the crocodiles were vegetarians and the piranhas were vegetarians too.”
The pair star in sci-fi film After Earth, which is set for UK release next month.