DENVER, USA — Jaden Smith revealed during the Psychedelic Science Conference which held in Denver, Colorodo between June 19 and June 23, 2023 that his mother, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, was the first in the Smith family to experiment with psychedelic drugs.
According to Entertainment Tonight, the 24-year-old actor and musician said, “I think it was my mom, actually, that was really the first one to make that step for the family. It was just her for a really, really long time and then eventually it just trickled and evolved, and everybody found it in their own ways.”
When pressed about the veracity of Jaden’s claims, Jada Pinkett Smith told People Magazine that all questions regarding this topic would be addressed in her upcoming memoir, Worthy, set to be released on October 17.
“It all gets answered in the book,” Pinkett Smith said. “I think people have made a lot of assumptions. And you know what? Rightfully so. I have to take ownership of that, in regards to the narrative that I’ve participated in, the falsehoods about myself. In the book, I really explain all of that extensively.”
Jada Pinkett Smith, 51, has previously spoken about her use of plant medicine to help combat depression.
In a November 2021 episode of her show Red Table Talk, she shared, “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.”
She added that she had been introduced to plant medicine a decade earlier, and it helped alleviate her depression.
During the same episode, Jada’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, discussed her consideration of using the plant-based psychedelic Ayahuasca to address self-esteem issues.
Jaden Smith, on his part, mentioned that psychedelic drugs helped him discover “love and empathy” for his family, especially his siblings, Willow and half-brother Trey. “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,” Jaden 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.”
Jaden’s statements find some support in scientific research, as a 2017 study in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology indicated that psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in some mushrooms, significantly increased emotional empathy.
The Smith family’s open discussion on the use of psychedelic substances for mental health and relationship enhancement has brought attention to the evolving conversation around the therapeutic uses of these substances.
