In case you were curious, Willow Smith is polyamorous and proud.
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During the latest episode of Red Table Talk, the usual trio, Willow, her mom Jada Pinkett Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, or "Gammy," had themselves a generational conversation about marriage and monogamy. Which led Willow to open up about her decision to be polyamorous.
This comes nearly two years after the "Transparent Soul" singer first expressed her interest in having multiple partners during a June 2019 episode of the Facebook Watch talk show, where she first publicly discussed polyamorous relationships and her love for "men and women equally.”
Now in 2021, she had the following to say. “With polyamory, I feel like the main foundation is the freedom to be able to create a relationship style that works for you and not just stepping into monogamy because that's what everyone around you says is the right thing to do. So I was like, 'How can I structure the way that I approach relationships with that in mind?”
The 20-year-old also brought up that throughout her research into polyamory, she found that one of the main reasons why monogamous relationships, or marriage often fail and result in divorce is due to infidelity.
When Banfield-Norris expressed that, to her, it seems polyamorous relationships are "all just centered around sex,” Willow emphatically responded as to why that that isn't necessarily true, with a very personal example.
For Willow, polyamory is also about considering the needs of the partners involved. "Let's say you haven't always been the person wanting sex all the time, but your partner is," she explained. "Are you going to be the person to say, 'Just because I don't have these needs, you can't have them either?' That's one of the reasons why I was interested in poly, because I was introduced to it through kind of a nonsexual lens. In my friend group, I'm the only polyamorous person and I have the least sex out of all of my friends.”
The open conversation then shifted to Jada, who last year made headlines with the invention on the term “entanglement" understood, and revealed how she initially reacted when her daughter opened up to her about being polyamorous. Recalling, “when you were like, ‘Hey, this is my get down.’ I was like, ‘I totally get it.' Wanting to set up your life in a way that you can have what it is that you want, I think anything goes as long as the intentions are clear, more to yourself than anything. I know that there's a lot of beauty that sits outside of the conventional boxes."
Despite her previous comments and reservations, Banfield-Norris revealed she and her current husband, Rodney, actually considered polyamory and had a "conversation" about it before they got married. That said, Gammy admitted she ultimately doesn't understand the concept and how her granddaughter is able to equally love multiple people within a relationship.
Pinkett Smith, who’s been married to husband Will Smith since 1997 added in a few thoughts of her own, believing that most people are monogamous because they "feel like they have no other choice" and the idea that monogamy is the only choice is "deeply antiquated and no longer works.”
Willow went on to admit that in past polyamorous relationships she’s experienced "fits of jealousy" and doesn't see herself having more than two other partners at a time. Smith also shared that the "only" way she sees herself getting married is if it was for a financial purpose. "The history of marriage really irks me," Smith said. "Just the history of marriage as a whole and what it has represented over the years, for women in particular.”
In the end, Pinkett Smith said she just wants her daughter to be with someone who loves her the way she deserves to be loved."Just like I told you the other day," Pinkett Smith said, "as long as you are learning to have the greatest love affair with Willow, I'm OK with whatever you do."
Check out the entire Red Table Talk "Is Polyamory For You" episode above.
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