Although health officials are concerned that social distancing might lead to a national increase in substance abuse cases, Willow Smith is bucking that trend, revealing on a recent episode of Red Table Talk that she’s quit smoking weed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an episode focused on addiction, Willow shared that she chose to quit smoking marijuana while in isolation.
“When I stopped smoking it was a really big, like, eye opener,” she began, noting that it made her evaluate the people in her life she considered friends. “There are so many people that I called friends in my life who kind of like.. [drifted away.]”
Willow shared that she was discovering new places to place her energy.
“And I know this sounds cheesy but around the time I stopped smoking, I started doing a lot of yoga and I just excelled because I was putting all of my energy into that,” the actress-singer revealed. “I wasn’t doing anything else. And I was like, ‘Wow, what if I was doing this with everything?’ And it really made me think, what have I been missing? What have I been not putting my all into or putting all of my brain power into.”
Willow offered advice to viewers who might be considering dropping the habit themselves.
“Just really think about what is the first thought in your head before you smoke. What is your first thought? And if that’s a thought of stress or using it as a crutch in any way, try to think about that,” she noted. “And if that comes from a negative place, examine that. Because if it comes from a negative place, that could snowball. Just think about what are some other things that you could utilize that are physically or mentally dampening.”
Both her grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and her mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith, said they were proud of her for recognizing the bad habit and working on ways to correct it.
“Willow, I’m proud of you because you decided to curb your excess weed smoking,” Jada said to her daughter. “Because as your mother, I could see the effects of it that you couldn’t.”