“I love my children and motherhood has turned out to be one of the most important jobs for me. It didn’t start out that way, you know. I didn’t think about being married or having a family. I didn’t know anything about that because I came from a single mom so I always thought I would be a single mom and have a career. I’d have a kid with a dude that I liked. But I found this beautiful man, Will, and then I got married to him and I got my bonus son, Trey. And then I got Jaden and I got Willow and I was able to create for myself something I never had—which was family.” VH1’s Dear Mama 2016
“I want to tell every mother that you can have a loving family and you can have your dreams, you can. We might not have everything that we thought we’d have but we can have that love and we can have ourselves,” said Jada.
“How people feel about Willow is how people feel about Willow. But what I’m most concerned about is how Willow feels about herself. She’s an independent, courageous, genius, talented little girl. I’m happy for her, that she can just be who she is.” ESSENCE, Sept. 2012
“I can be formidable and feminine. It took me a long time to realize that. Now I’m able to be strong but not feel like I’ve got to act like a dude.” Shape, Jan 2015
“Every relationship needs work: parental relationships, friendships, relationships with lovers, spouses—even enemies. The idea that good relationships don’t need work is a romanticized [notion] I find really damaging…. It is so interesting, because we give so much leniency to our friends; they can come and go. Yet we don’t give that to the people with whom we are most intimate.” Redbook, July 2013
“It’s a big turn-on for me to be spiritually and intellectually challenged by Will. To me, it’s like foreplay.” Shape, Jan 2015.
Sometimes God puts things in your way so that you get a real understanding. ESSENCE, Sept. 2012
“There’s a lot of shame we carry in our skin but a lot of healing can come from us confronting our bodies and scraping off the shame.” ESSENCE, July 2010
Do you love what you see when you look in the mirror? Because I bet that if you love it authentically, everybody else around you will. They won’t even have a chance to see anything else, because you will have a shield of confidence around you. That is a powerful gift that God gives us that most of us rarely use.” ESSENCE, July 2010
“God forbid you make a big decision based on someone else’s opinion. Then you’re looking at them and saying, “But you said to do this.” When I was growing up, my mother only put her foot down once: She said, “You are going to college.” And that was a lifesaving moment. But she never talked to me about my clothes or hair. So I learned how to parent my kids through her. I approach them by saying, “I’ve been on this planet for 41 years, so can we agree that there are certain things I might know better than you?” I don’t parent in a dictatorship, saying you shouldn’t do this or that. I want them to have the confidence to make decisions for themselves.” Redbook, July 2013
“Be friends first…Will knows more about me than my girlfriends,” says Jada. “Passion and fire come and go, but friendship lasts forever.” Shape, August 2009
“In the public I’m perceived as glamorous and inaccessible. In everyday life I rock sweat suits and braids. I’m not that chick who’s glammed up daily. I don’t just kick back and wait for things to fall into my lap. I’m a go-getter in my family business and community.” ESSENCE, June 2003
“A friend taught me that that it’s okay and good and safe for women to take time and talk with each other.” ESSENCE, June 2003
“Let me be clear, I don’t think women have to make a sacrifice. They have a choice-always. But here’s the deal: You ask yourself, What can you live with? And for me, that question was easy to answer. But good mothers make all kinds of choices. Making a decision that might sound selfish does not make a woman a bad mother.” Redbook, August 2011
“Will and I are yin and yang. He’s all sky, vast and bright and soaring, and I’m all earth. I’m here to ground him, and he’s here to help me fly.” Shape, August 2009
