I feel sorry for the Smith kids, Jaden and Willow. They have all that money, access and potential, and they’re just… struggling, I think. Part of it is the weirdly Scientologist vibe coming off of the Smith family as a whole. Part of it is that I truly wonder if Jada and Will have their kids best interests at heart. And part of it is just normal teenage drama. To be fair, I think Willow has realized that she needs to take a step back from the spotlight and just be a teenager. Jaden, however, is all about the LA scene, dating Jenner girls and giving crazy interviews to magazine apropos of nothing. Back in October, Jaden gave a wild interview to GQ where he dropped truth bombs like “I don’t think I’m as revolutionary as Galileo, but I don’t think I’m not as revolutionary as Galileo.” And “Me and Willow are scientists, so everything for us is a scientific test upon humanity.” Yes. So is it any surprise that Jaden reportedly sees himself as a “modern day prophet”?
Deep thoughts. “I don’t think I’m as revolutionary as Galileo,” Jaden Smith recently told GQ. “But I don’t think I’m not as revolutionary as Galileo.”
And like the Renaissance scientist, the 17-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has a few ideas to champion. “Jaden sees himself as a modern-day prophet and is working on a collection of essays,” a pal says in the new issue of Us Weekly. “They’re new takes on string theory and chaos theory, but more mystical.”
After all, he’s getting an out-of-this-world assist with the tome. Explains the source, “Jaden thinks he has spiritual ties to people in other dimensions and galaxies, and they are helping him write.”
The crystal-healing enthusiast also believes his work could have a widespread impact. Adds the insider, “He hopes to have a spiritual following when he releases these.”
You know what this reminded me of? Terrence Howard’s absolutely bonkers interview with Rolling Stone several months ago. Howard was talking about how he invented a new kind of math called “Terryology” where 1 times 1 equals 2. I would love to know Jaden’s modern-day prophecies about chaos theory and how he has spiritual connections to people in other galaxies. It might have some connection to Terryology! He should totally write it all down. It could be the new Dianetics.
I hate to be this person, but I honestly have to ask: where are his parents?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He needs a psychiactrist, that’s what this boy needs.
I agree. This is starting to sound serious. A prophet? Connected to people in other dimensions? Hoo boy.
Why on earth do mags like GQ give him space for this drivel? Surely he doesn’t shift copies? Surely their readership demographic is not interested in a 17 year old who looks 12? I can’t even read the nonsense he spouts. He lost me at Galileo.
I think so too, and good parents would do that. The Smiths will not.
Yeah, my first thought was not “prophet” or “scholar” or “artist” but “mental illness.” Hope he gets the help he seems to need.
Honestly, I work in the mental; health field. He is at the age where mental illness symptoms start to show.
So do I and he’s at the age when the first signs of schizophrenia appear. Hope we are both wrong – it’s a dreadful illness
It’s less mental illness and more teenage entitlement rumamuk. Every adolescent has the key to unlock the mysteries of the universe with uniquwah observations. How embarrassing that he’s given a platform when most peasant teens are simply given the eye roll.
Freebunny: You’re being glib. 🙂
Yeah, I have been worried about him for the last couple of years. There is a line between free-thinking, weird and truly ill. It is a bit tasteless to speculate, but something in his eyes seems really troubled as well.
Exactly. If it was a non-celebrity saying things like “he has spiritual ties to people in other dimensions and galaxies, and they are helping him write”, they’d be diagnosed with some type of mental health disorder… but scientologists don’t believe in that. So there you go.
Weed. Yep. Take it from one who knows plenty of young boys who smoked too much sensimilla and it triggered bipolar, schizophrenia and a bunch of other mental problems. Nothing genius happening here. It sounds troubling really. Unless he and his family are trolling us…
Yes absolutely, in the UK the very strong version of weed called ‘Skank’ is a known trigger
Agreed, he sounds like a stoner – I think My friends and I had the same stupid conversations when we were wasted in high school – and the weed we smoked in the early ’80s was dirt weed compared to what Jaden can afford.
Thanks, Kaiser. That’s the word I was looking for – bonkers.
My first thought as well – sounds like textbook ”delusions of grandeur and fame.” Time to bring in the mental health professionals.
giving off LRH vibes ERMAGEEERD
And the scariest part is that LRH proved that you can completely make up a religion and be pretty successful with it. So in a few years, Jayden could be Our New Surpreme Overlord of the Church of Xenu Kush
Jokes aside, I agree with all above who think he needs real help. It sounds like he may have a legitimate mental disorder, no snark intended.
Maybe he believes he is LRH reincarnated?
Cricket, that’s what I was afraid of!
Maybe after all he did return
All jokes and diagnoses aside, I find that this child makes me irrationally stabby.
It’s not cute how out of touch with reality he is. He might have money and Hollywood as his security blanket, but I fear for him if that’s ever taken away.
I intensely dislike that he’s being interviewed because people know he’ll say something stupid. We are all doing a massive disservice to this kid.
Doesn’t there come a time when a parent realizes their child needs help, needs an education, needs to be quiet & lead the life of a child? This is what baffles me. This boy sounds nuts & his parents ,who are suppose to love him, should get him some help.
There is, but Will and Jada aren’t those parents unfortunately. I used to really like Will but I’ve lost so much respect for him seeing how badly he is screwing up this raising children thing.
Will and Jada have done an incredible disservice to their children. The more attention this kid gets the more he’s validated and their parenting is validated. Yes, he’s ridiculous, but at this point the only reason he’s being given a platform anymore is to hear him say something stupid, which isn’t cool.
I absolutely agree with you. I don’t understand why semi famous people are pandered to so much in the US.
No boundaries + massive sense of entitlement + minimal parenting – reality check/guidance = big problems looming
I continue to be appalled at his parents’ failure to parent.
Wow
That is all I’ve got.
My heart aches for him. Most teens given half a choice would quite formal schooling too but at the same time Jaden clearly does hunger for knowledge. He just needs guidance and focusing. In a parallel universe where his parents arent failing him, jaden would be one of the smartest kids in the room.
I agree with you. I think he’s a smart kid who doesn’t have proper direction. He’s obnoxious, but part of that is his age. I’m more disgusted by his parents.
Agree, Naya. I feel really bad for him, and think his parents should be ashamed of themselves. They have completely failed this bright and curious child.
Seriously, he would be one of the smartest kids on the room? Based on what exactly? I agree with other commenters, he sounds deluded, much more than a normal teenager. I have no background in psy but if my kid would speak in such an inarticulate fashion, postulating insane theories, I would get him an evaluation stat. Mental illness is no joke. Yes his parents failed to provide a proper education for him but what he spouts is not simply demonstrating a lack of knowledge, it shows a lack of being in touch with reality. Being in school would alleviate the huge gaps in his reading, writing and time management skills but it wouldn’t cure him of the ability to “speak” with aliens. Only therapy could do that.
I wouldn’t call him inarticulate, certainly not compared to the average 17-year-old.
I think you could be right that he’s mentally ill, and I would definitely agree that he was if he was your average kid in high school. But he has no one to direct him back to reality when he gets these grandiose ideas. No classmates or parents or teachers to give him a reality check. His ego and imagination have both been allowed to run amok. He gets constant attention and his quotes appear in magazines and on line – people are asking him for interviews and taking him seriously rather than telling him to knock it off. It’s all reinforcing his delusions of grandeur. You still might be right, but I think there are many contributing factors to his behavior and other possible explanations besides mental illness. It’s too soon to tell, maybe.
Kitten, the teens I know are much more coherent and well spoken that this 17 year old. Yes, they all come from well to do families and attend excellent private schools, but they discuss topics such as global warming, current elections, social media etc. with incredible fluency and make astute observations. Neither of which this kid seems capable of doing. I stand by my comment, I am certain a percentage of his failings come from terrible parenting, but I do not see anything here to suggest some great intelligence; what I do see, purely as a parent, is someone who needs a medical assessment to rule out certain disorders. Even in the rarefied world of HW bootlicks who hang on to his every word, if he possessed a modicum of intelligence, he could educate himself via books or private tutors.
Some commenters here have excused him based on his age and the fact that “all teens think they know everything”. I politely disagree. Think back to your teen tears. Yes, we all believed we had a great deal of emotional intelligence, we all thought we were cool, we thought we were misunderstood, some of us may have thought we were destined for greatness. I sincerely doubt most – if any- of us thought we were Galileo or a prophet, or thought we could improve on the theory of relativity. See the difference?
He doesn’t think he’s Galileo though?
“I don’t think I’m as revolutionary as Galileo,” Jaden Smith recently told GQ. “But I don’t think I’m not as revolutionary as Galileo.”
That’s the quote. It sounds like a teenager bragging to me, like a lot of teenagers do.
I took his comment to mean that he’s inspired by Galileo, which makes sense when you put it within the context of his interest in physics/science.
Sorry, we can agree to disagree but I just don’t see him as displaying some sort of exceptionally strange behavior. I have friends who believe in crystals, signs, aliens, ghosts, spirituality, herbal healing, shamanism–I even have a wildly successful friend who literally believes that plants can talk to her. None of these people are mentally ill. In fact, they’re all wonderfully well-adjusted, great people.
Obviously, I don’t know Jaden personally so this is just my own observation based on the few interviews I’ve read but he just seems like a bit of a troll, a bit eccentric, and fairly spoiled, that’s all.
It’s been scientifically proven that plants communicate with each other via hormones and mycelium, so I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch that your friend thinks she is communicating with her plants, on some level anyway. But I’m an armchair botanist with over 100 rare tropicals, so I might be biased.
I’d say that this kid appears to lack even the most basic education, which isn’t shocking considering the Smith’s approach to education. It’s almost like he’s spent his life being told that his thoughts and theories are right and special just because he FEELS that they are. The people in Jaden Smith’s life have utterly failed him.
GNAT
100% with your comment.
Yes! You expressed perfectly how I feel about this situation.
I don’t think he’s mentally ill. Just needs some guidance and a better channel for his creativity.
Why would GQ interview him? Why give him a platform? There are far more interesting 17 year old boys at just about any high school in the United States who are actually contributing something valuable to their communities. Interview them.
I think it’s strange how everyone jumps to the conclusion that he must have a mental disorder.
To me, he sounds like a kid who is partly into spiritual and artsy stuff, partly just trolling people to get a reaction, and partly just a product of Scion and a Hollywood upbringing.
He doesn’t sound mentally ill to me at all, he actually sounds like a lot of my friends freshman year at Mass College of Art.
I agree Kitten.
Kitten, I hear you. I knew a musician, former art student, who was very much like how you described. He was also bipolar and periodically had psychotic breaks if he didn’t take his meds, which he often did deliberately to tap into more creativity, which he thought the meds stifled. There was something in what Jaden said that reminded me a bit of this guy during one of his breaks. But what do I really know based on a few sentences?
For his sake, I hope you are right. He just seems so incredibly ‘out there’ and this is the age when things can start to take a sinister turn. Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions.
@esmom- Oh I totally understand how you would draw that parallel from a personal experience. I mean, I obviously don’t know if he does or doesn’t either.
I’m just saying that I’m really uncomfortable with how often we see people around here making armchair diagnoses. It seems dangerous to me somehow, and unfair to speculate about something so personal and devastating without any real proof.
The fact that he’s still just a teen makes me that much more uncomfortable with all the criticism and speculation. I think part of it is that he makes all these grandiose statements that make him seem almost indestructible–like too full of himself to be hurt. Additionally, he is a product of wealth and privilege, so people feel compelled to knock him off his pedestal.
Then again, my good will could be a byproduct of my longstanding affection for Will Smith, because I certainly didn’t give Kylie Jenner the benefit of the doubt so…meh.
As an actual psychiatrist (med school and all), I think it would be irresponsible to armchair diagnose Jaden Smith from a few sentences in a magazine. He appears, to me, to be a freethinking young man with few restrictions imposed upon him. I know plenty of adults who spout the same kinds of things as Jaden and they are not mentally ill, just eccentric. Not all eccentricities are mental illnesses.
I agree. They’re probably all reading The Secret or whatever is the current equivalent. This is like positive thinking run amok.
Justin Beiber and Justin Timberlake and many other celebrities and plenty of kids of 1%s also have tremendous egos. Jaden’s just walking around dressed as Batman or wearing a dress rather than peeing in a janitor’s mop bucket or laughing at a video of homeless people.
Oh my God Paranormal Girl, stop being so rational and decent about this teen who displays a teen interest in stuff! Seriously, if everyone who thought the world revolved around them and was interested in offbeat topics as an adolescent was legitimately crazy, there wouldn’t be enough places to store all the nutty people. And thanks for pointing out that plenty of adults are interested too, and that none of this is a criterion for hysterical internet medical diagnoses.
But I think there’s a difference between an interest and passion in spirituality and art vs declaring oneself a prophet and looking for followers. Generally people who say the latter concern me a bit.
@paranormalgirl, thanks for weighing in. Since we are all just commenting on a blog, I don’t see our speculations as irresponsible. It’s not like we are actually treating him, so I’m not sure I understand the concern.
I agree with Kitten. If he is mentally ill than one can also say that all followers of the Course in Miracles worldwide, including best selling author Marianne Williamson are mentally ill also…as the Course in Miracles was supposedly also channeled. People have many more inherant gifts and skills if you will, than is commonly believed. You can see orgone energy easily from any airplane window. Next time you fly, just look out the window without focusing on anything. In a little while you will likely see what looks like little pinpricks of light, like little comets, moving around in what seems random patterns.
@Lilac: I feel like at this point GQ is interviewing him as a joke. They know he’ll say something stupid and it’ll get them tons of clicks.
As Kitten said above, it’s easy to look at this kid and see all the wealth and privilege and want to knock him off his pedestal. But every time he’s published like this, it seems to be with the objective of putting him out there to be ridiculed. He’s 17, has what appears to be not even the most basic education, no skills, and is constantly being told he’s special.
I agree with Kitten +1000. So he’s into artsy spiritual stuff, wants to write a book and that makes him cuckoo? If he were a jock and into football and just kept his mouth shut whenever the press came around asking him questions everybody would be OK with that? Does this point of view make ME a Scientologist now? SMH.
I have to wonder what Jaden, Willow and also Kylie Jenner will be like in ten years. Even with all the material wealth of their families, they seem so poor in other ways.
They do seem bankrupt in so many ways. They don’t really seem to understand the world outside hollywood. For all of their access, I think their worlds are very small.
Well he’s still a teen. Didn’t everyone believe they had genius and great thoughts to unleash unto the world, or that they would be a big star? It’s clearly even easier to believe that when your Dad is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of. Hopefully his parents provide some sort of stability and grounding for him. We’ll see what he’s like at 25 or 30.
No, not really.
There’s a difference between thinking you’re a misunderstood genius and Jaden’s behaviour.
Most parents would guide him out of his fantasy, his parents nurture his fantasy world. This can’t end good.
You have heard them (his parents) talk about how they treat their children as adults and the children, whether they are ready or not, make their own decisions, right? This is not typical teen behavior. I know as I taught 30 years on the high school level and I have NEVER encountered anyone like this.
Really? As a teen I had a friend who believed that she saw the ghost of a dead family friend in their home, knew one boy who swore that he saw giant blue people sitting around the house (he was taken to a shrink and was deemed to have a vivid imagination), and knew another gentle soul who would swear to you that he’d seen UFOs while deep in the woods at night. Maybe you taught in an exceptionally boring school district. Anyway, narcissism, feelings of invincibility and interest in the occult are normal in the teen years. Maybe his parents’ stupidity will lead to his downfall, but I for one won’t be calling it in for a child. Oh, and everybody should take notice that these are tabloid tales from a nameless ”friend.”
I said something similar above, but I’m talking about ADULTS I know lol
Maybe it just depends on who you hang with? I tend to be drawn to eccentric, unconventional types. I’m not saying that’s Jaden, but I’m not saying that’s not Jaden.
(see what I did there?)
😉
Most eccentric kids don’t let their freak flag fly at school where they’re going to get ridiculed and bullied. You probably wouldn’t see that behavior as a teacher. I say this as a lover of freaks.
lol No, I didn’t. We are all naive at that age, think we can do anything. I was very excited to be alive!
I don’t get WHY magazines are even interviewing him at all. So what, he’s a movie stars son. I don’t care. He sounds delusional and needs some vacation time at a sanitarium.
I probably thought I could be someone important in some kind of career, but I don’t think it ever occurred to me that I could be as revolutionary as Galilleo.
No, actually. I was just struggling to survive.
I don’t find his thinking and behaviors to be like any teen I’ve known. Sure, there’s cockiness and arrogance of thinking you know it all. The general teen naivete and optimism. That’s a bit different from this dude’s delusions of grandeur, relationships with aliens (hello, people still think they’re not Scientologists?!) and all the other nonsense he spouts. HIs parents really suck.
I think many teens are capable of this kind of stupid, but generally their parents, friends, and community keep them in line.
This kid is running hogwild and allowed to show all this hormonally induced psychoses.
Unfortunately with no help in sight he will devolve while his peers are getting civilized.
Agreed!
He will continue down this road of self aggrandizement and narcissism and, for a while, it ill be kind of cool and interesting. But when his friends grow up and get real about life he will be left behind wondering why the world doesn’t “get” his genius.
My heart just sank imagining this.
Sounds like Kanye 😛
I think he is an immature product of his environment, that he is struggling with his identity and trying to find his place in life. Clearly he wants to be seen as important and has delusions of grandeur. His parents need to sit up and pay attention as this could go wrong in a hurry.
Dear Jaden,
We were all DEEP at your age. Settle down.
Signed Us.
Will & Jada- WTF? Check your damn kid.
I love you, Darkladi. You said it all.
OK had JPS in a picture on a beach in Hawaii the other day, with the a caption, something like, Jada had the perfect bikini body at age 43! Maybe she needs to stop worrying about her perfect body and start worrying about her kids!!!
I see the comments above about how this is normal teen stuff. I personally have to disagree. I’ve taught high school and yes plenty of teens (especially boys) believe they have all the answers, and have an enflated sense of self due to lack of real world experience and due to how smart they realize they are at this age.
But this seems beyond that. If a student under my care was making such grandiose claims with full certainty like this I would worry that he or she was mentally ill. For real, Jaden seems mentally ill to me. It’s sad and alarming.
I don’t intend to be mean-spirited, Patricia; but, I hope you did not teach your high school students to misspell the word “inflated.”
Patricia got her point across. I agree, that kid needs help. Now.
Oh God this again?
Teachers make mistakes. Some are typos.
And some people can be very intelligent but can’t spell for shit. I know I have a friend who is a scientist and spells horribly. But he is so very smart otherwise.
Wowwwwww you know what I taught? History.
You know what you should have been taught? How to chill and have manners. Thanks for the laugh though.
lol @ Patricia, that was well done.
Should have read this first. Said the same thing having taught high school And Lavert, is that all you got out of her statement – she spelled “inflated” wrong? We all make spelling errors without thinking about it. Many times it’s my fingers flying to fast on the keyboard and not paying attention to what I typed.
Well i think thats the problem with some of our schools anyone who is slightly different are made to feel out of place which actually leads to mental health problems.
I think its mad that people are so quick to say a kid must be mentally il, because they think in an non conventional way. It shows how intolerant we are as society.
Sure he has an inflated sense of self probably piled on by his environment, but to compare him to a man in his 40s with substance abuse problems is unnecessary.
This is a kid who is growing up in the spotlight at least he is not out there being Justin Bieber, by all accounts he is a polite young man. and he takes an interest in studying which isn’t the worst thing in the world is it?
I understand what you are saying, but I believe he is just a product of his environment where all this nonsense is encouraged. His entire family believe in aliens and other dimensions and he doesn’t have the social contact to bring him back to reality. He hangs around with other uneducated self absorbed Hollywood kids and because he is the child of movie stars no one wants to call him out. His parents don’t get him help because they think hes just fine. It’s really sad.
@decorative item and @kitten
I agree with you. I think he lives in an crazy environment and that the adults around him encourages his crazy ideas. How should he understand that he is not the genious he thinks he is if every one tells him he is? I would’t even be suprised if his parents have been feeding him this ideas since he was a small kid. He is brainwashed in a way.
I wonder if he isn’t getting a lot of this from his mother. Jada has always struck me as someone who is pretty nuts and relies a lot on spirituality and sexuality to see her through. It isn’t hard for me to imagine her telling her son, “Have you ever heard of Galileo? You can be as revolutionary as him. You weren’t born like others. You are different. You are a prophet. Blah, blah, blah.” The kid is brainwashed, and that kind of crap usually comes from the parents.
Good point. Given the lack of evidence of much formal schooling it’s doubtful he came up with this Galileo connection on his own.
Sorry, didn’t say that you basically made the same point before me.
I seriously side-eye Will and Jada for not doing more for their kids. This is not normal, and not in the quirky or awkward type of the way but in the sounds possibly like a mental illness type of way. I remember back in the day reading that Jada and Will basically fired, since they were the producers, half the people from Jada’s old TNT show about doctors that ran for a few seasons and replaced them with Scientology friendly people. Ever since then I feel like Sci has had their hooks in them
Perhaps the apple’s not falling far from the tree, which I hadn’t really thought of before. Hmmm….
They bought them careers, what more could a parent do for their children.
Good Lord. Galileo comparisons? Seriously? Get over your bad self and go to college/HS whatever, do something productive.
I want to laugh this off, but I can’t. His parents encourage this stuff and in the age of social media he has access to literally millions of easily swayed people and not just other teens.
He’s in the city where a cult like Scientology has taken firm root and has ENORMOUS sway-it isn’t hard to imagine people blindly following what this kid says if it sounds cool enough. In another situation I’d be like, “Calm down, Jaden-give it a few years”, but I feel like this is more serious.
This has the influence of a certain cult written all over it. Science-fiction? Check. Being in contact with spiritual beings from other galaxies? Check. Dellusions of grandeur? Check. Complete lack of scientific evidence for outrageous claims? Check.
That kid is doomed.
He was raised on the insane (and Satanic) ramblings of LRH, a science fiction writer and psychopath who had bizarre ideas about everything from Silent Childbirth to Xenu thetans. LRH was CRACKERS, yet Will & Jada fell for his bullsh*t ideas – as if LRH knew ANYTHING about pediatrics or child development or mental health. There’s a reason Scientology wages WAR against mental health professionals. The cult would not exist if its members got treatment.
Do we know if Jaden is even literate? He talks a big game but I doubt he can read or write past the fifth grade level. I don’t think it will be possible to reel in his grandiose ego and tell him he’s actually an undereducated, unemployed, over privileged little boy, not an adult in funny clothes.
I say we help our modern-day prophet come up with valuable insights. I’ll begin with my idea of a Jadenism:
“Let My Ego Be The Olympics Of Your Soul. The Universe is the. Perspiration of Consciousness. Precious And Few Are Cantaloupe Watermark Kneecap Licorice. Nova Scotia.
Go placidly among the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in listening to me prattle on about string theory in my white batman suit.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with kumquats.
CALICO CAT that was awesome!
LIBERTY where are you?
I would love to know how he is making string theory “mystic” or you know, if he even knows anything about string theory
I don’t think he’s mentally ill. I think he’s just a narcissistic kid whose ideas and self-importance have been indulged his entire life. Last year when he was making the circuit in his ridiculous outfits and screaming for attention, so many people were actually supportive of his antics and said he was a neat kid and they liked his uniqueness. I said then, it was just a matter of time before all the “support” went to his head and he’d get really weird, if not dangerous. I don’t see him as dangerous….yet, but time will tell. And I dont’ mean physically dangerous – I mean having a following and influencing the youth with warped ideology they’ll want to embrace because his family’s entire beleif system is based on doing what you want regardless or morality or consequence. I don’t care what religion you are or are not, that’s a dangerous mindset that only causes problems.
Smoke another doob Jayden and thanks to all the psychopants that continue to encourage him. I’m sure Will and Jada are proud because “he’s doing his own thing.” Whatever.
Isn’t narcissism a personality disorder though? These delusions of grandeur are certainly not normal for anyone, much less a 17 year old. I do think that a large part of this is that he is a curious child, who grabs onto new concepts he hears about and starts thinking about them as deeply as he is capable. Unfortunately for him, I don’t think he was encouraged to learn the conventional way, so he comes up with theories on things he has an interest in. Almost like a small child who hears a word and phrase, and then tries to integrate that into conversation. I taught my 7 year old niece the concept of glass half full/empty, and for the rest of the night, she tried to work that into every conversation she had that evening, even in places where it didn’t make sense.I feel like that is what he is doing here, but to a much greater extent.
I hate to be this person but what this boy needs is a good formal education and some discipline. One needs to have at least attempted to have read and distilled some knowledge before you begin prancing around the interwebs telling people you’re a prophet. He seems lost and unintentionally obnoxious because he has no idea who he is and what he needs to know. I think his parents are failing him and by the time they realize it, it will be too late.
Education, discipline, and a role model who stresses education and discipline
Sadly, it’s already too late. It nearly impossible to change a person’s mentality. Fairly easy to change habits or specific actions, but a person’s mindset? Not so much. His parents already failed him. For Pete’s sake, his own mother is the one filling his head with the nonsense about his ability to channel alien beings.
It would be a great thing if Jayden went to college, but that would require going to highschool first which he won’t do because he’s aged out and would feel inferior – like the 20 year old still in highschool, doing his 3rd year as a senior. He could try to do it on-line, but he’d need help – tutors and such because this poor kid hasn’t ever had any formal schooling even gradschool. He’s was home-schooled based on a Scientology learned method – but that got shut down by the government because Hello! It isn’t really school. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself in a normal arena. He can’t just be part of something bigger. He has to be the front-liner, the leader, all eyes on him and he wouldn’t get that at any college. He’d just feel dumb because frankly, he is.
And unfortunately, you can’t parent or discipline a mental illness. Tried it and it backfired miserably.
Thank you for saying that, so true and right there with you.
Can’t stand either Jaden or Willow. Obnoxious. I hate how the media indulges this sort of thing. It isn’t helping the situation. These two are clearly the result of their upbringing, and though they grate on me to no end, I feel sorry for them. They never had a chance at normalcy.
I just do not see him or his sister functioning without their parents.
Whether you think he’s mentally ill or just a little extra pseudo-deep it’s pretty clear that without strong goals or some aspirations (real aspirations that net income) he won’t really be able to support himself. Instead of learning real math or genuinely inventing new math (such as the girl from the Wonder Years who has all sorts of initiatives to get kids excited about Math) he’s making up math that would likely end up failing when put to a real test.
He seems lonely and without really standing for anything (so you will fall…). Funny how a religion that claims you treat your kids as functioning adults could produce such immature and undeveloped children. Seriously I think in a room with normal 17 yr olds he’d quickly feel outclassed and uncomfortable among kids with real knowledge and real goals (not that writing a book isn’t a goal, but his rambly speak and past Twitter account don’t exactly inspire confidence).
You said it all perfectly. He puts normalcy down as if it’s boring or we’re all just sheep following stupidity when in actuality he is the one who feels dumb around normal people because he has no idea how the world works, how to navigate it and he’s never been taught humility. He likes to think he’s acheived so much because he’s been a child actor, but other than that – he has achieved nothing, learned nothing, experienced nothing that every normal American kid has – regular stuff that nurtures, teaches, and inspires them, and achievements that prove commitment and discipline are well-rewarded which propels them to the next level. It’s ironic how his parents thinking that letting them do what they want without direction or discipline would make them mature and develop faster. It had the opposite affect. Their kids are immature and underdeveloped – emotionally and intellectually stunted.
I would love to see Jayden square off with a normal 17 year old honor roll student and go head to head – debating on any subject. Jayden would probably cry and run out of the room. I’d also like to see Jayden write – anything – because I suspect he cannot read or write beyond a gradeschooler’s level. All very sad.
Yeah I’d like to see one page length essay from Jaden on any topic (which again, most normal kids at that age are tackling 10 page papers in preparation for college) just to see if he does actually have some grasp of how to 1. Research a topic and 2. Explain a topic WELL to people who may not be informed about it.
I dare say he’d struggle incredibly. I feel bad for him. If he just seemed like he wanted to live off his parents money and have fun (like a male Kylie) then it’d be fine but the poor kid sounds like he’d love to know about science, physics, and astronomy. Instead he has to invent math and build pyramids because in those fields he’s so far behind he’s almost non-functioning.
Sounds like drug induced psycho babble or mental issue. I can see him taking psychedelic drugs to enhance his mind. I think Jada and Will’s screwed up ‘free style parenting’ is taking a toll on their free style kids. I always thought Jada was weard. There will be many looking for something to follow that egg him on.
Q: “Where are his parents?”
A: So far up their own butts they aren’t even paying attention.
Plus, these are people that named Will and Jada with children named Willow and Jaden. Narcissist much? Add in their clear connection to CO$ and this kid doesn’t have a hope in hell of being normal. Or getting a real education.
Because he’s had a filthy rich and basically unrestricted upbringing, I’m sure he thinks he can just drift into a world of genius without much effort, and that every phrase he writes will be an utter pearl of new-found wisdom, earning him praise and accolades from scientists who have actually studied and worked hard all their lives to attain wisdom.
He’s a deluded little jerk and his parents should be ashamed of themselves that they let him bring himself up thinking he’s got superpowers.
I think the bigger issue is Jaden dating that girl Sarah Snyder…she went to court for a shoplifting charge, for stealing a very expensive handbag. Also, on twitter there is a video of her snorting an illegal substance and she is with a boy NOT Jaden. Yikes. Jaden run!! Kind of low key wish Jaden and Kylie were still dating. She was more tolerable back then.
Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean someone is mentally ill. There is a new generation, and new thought processes, and if you aren’t open, it seems crazy. In my generation there are Indigos, and in his they are Crystal. If you don’t believe, just wait. The people are waking up.
Crystals and Indigos? What? This is why people don’t take Jaden seriously. He says random things that only make sense to him. I don’t know what you mean by Crystals and Indigos. If you’re going to put something out there explain it. Give a link.
I’ve heard of this before Indigo, Crystal and Rainbow children. I like to keep an open mind and therefore open to everything. As long as people don’t promote hate or harm I’ll listen and try to understand almost anything. A lot of things don’t jive with me but I respect others thoughts nonetheless.
I don’t think Jaden is mentally ill, I think he’s just expressing and going through an explorative phase like most kids do. He is still a child and children don’t deserve judgment, granted he sounds off his rocker to most people, but not seriously mentally ill. Would you guys say the same thing if he was talking in a religious context, because a lot of people who are religious sound out there to me too! Case of whatever floats your boat.
“Would you guys say the same thing if he was talking in a religious context, because a lot of people who are religious sound out there to me too!”
+1,000,000
We understand perfectly he beleive he can channel alien spiritual beings. We completely understand he thinks he knows more than everybody else when he doesn’t even have a highschool diploma and no plans to get one. I don’t know who the people are you speak of or what you think they’re waking up to, but it’s sounds disturbingly like passive emotionally unstable followers looking for something to belong to and someone to lead them which usually results in brainwashing and being taken advantage of = mass harm = cult.
I do understand and I do believe that there is room for alternate belief systems, but these belief systems need to be based on credible scientific study, not some new-agey mumbo jumbo spouted by a barely literate kid who doesn’t go to school. That smacks of L. Ron Hubbardism and belittles the countless people who have spent their lives studying and finding out how the universe ticks, not automatically believing the mindless brain farts of an adolescent.
“I do believe that there is room for alternate belief systems, but these belief systems need to be based on credible scientific study”
Since when has ANY belief system ever been based on a “credible scientific study”?
@Kitten – sorry, I didn’t word this properly. I’m a Reiki therapist and teacher, and in my studies of various energy therapies there is scientific and photographic proof that there are certain energy frequencies released during treatment. I wasn’t talking about a belief system as in a “religion”, more along the lines of the therapeutic use of energy relating to what I do. The fact that he sees himself as a modern-day prophet and envisions himself as a spiritual leader is utter hubris and actually a bit scary. “Me and Willow are scientists, so everything for us is a scientific test upon humanity.”
I have a son on the autism spectrum and early on some people told me to look into “indigo” children. I am an open-minded person and I did look into the theory — along with a million other things — and I just couldn’t seem to find any connection to my son. Except for maybe the fact that they think these kids have evolved more fully than most people, which is what some people say is true about people on the spectrum. I think I would have done him a big disservice if I’d just accepted that “he’s an indigo child and so different the world can’t even comprehend but might once some future enlightenment is achieved” rather then give him the support and interventions he needed to be able to function comfortably in this world, right now. I’m not trying to force him to conform to a cookie cutter mold but I think it’s important that he gain the knowledge and skills necessary to be functional, productive, and happy.
Thank you, Indigo Child. And speaking of Galileo, this sort of narrow-mindedness is what got him thrown in jail. Heresy, anybody? I think a lot of people are envious that someone has a little extra money, time on their hands and a difference of opinion.
He really is just representing an entire generation of kids who think they know it all. These kids were never told “no” and are always told “you’re the best !”. They don’t experience failures because “everyone wins!”. As adults, I don’t know how they will make it.
Actually I don’t think he’s representing his entire generation, not by a long shot.
Ugh … between this and yesterday’s tragedy (and the divisive commentary that follows), I’m just so, so sad about our world. Truthfully, I blame the internet and social media. We have created a forum for everyone to be an expert, for everyone to be special, for everyone to have a following … it’s not healthy. Hard work, humility and compromise have all been lost in the pursuit of self. Everyone wants to be validated constantly and find affirmation on every nuanced point of their life view. We are nitpicking each other to death. Small grudges and philosophical differences are grounds for massacres and the wrong choice of words is grounds for ridicule. Enough already!
I think it’s great that he’s thinking about deeper things, but the idea he must become a spiritual leader is a grandiose delusion fueled by all the fans who encourage him (and the haters who discourage him.) Can we not keep anything to ourselves any more? Can we not be okay with disagreement without having to push our opinion onto others? When will we all learn to walk away from the screen and do our part in a quiet way?
Agreed! When we were kids, we came home from school and did chores, held jobs, did homework. These days, kids come home and saturate themselves with social media, getting high on patronizing comments like “OMG, so hot!” Or, they get low and bitter when they aren’t praised or adored. No wonder they think they’re prophets!!
Yes ! They get depressed if they don’t get enough “likes” on instagram or don’t have enough “followers”. It’s so stupid. Yes, please like my selfie. It only took me 105 times before taking the perfect pic. Then I had to add 10 filters to it, and photoshop it. But please oh please won’t you like me?!!!
I still think he’s trolling us. I don’t for one second believe that he actually believes any of the craziness he is saying. He has created an eccentric character for himself and is playing it out in public for his own personal entertainment and people are buying it. He actually is probably a pretty smart kid…just bored and this is his way of being creative.
If he were really smart, he would be able to make his pronouncements more believable. He is just tossing words around without understanding their real complexity, and it works because he’s talking to people who don’t understand the words either. He seems much younger than his years to me, so maybe we should be evaluating him as an eleven or twelve year old rather than seventeen.
But if he’s bored, that’s proof he isn’t actually studying string theory or chaos theory. If he were, he would be too busy to be bored. Just getting up to speed in mathematics would fully occupy him. My guess is that he pulls this stuff out of some Scientology-approved writing that tosses around such words to make it seem scientific, but not using mathematics or any deep understanding of the concepts.
Well what I see is a spoiled, entitled, uneducated ‘Tology child. So maybe after some years of education, life experience and living in reality, *not Mommy & Daddy’s money* and he’ll have something worthwhile to say.
aww poor jaden and willow. struggling with being rich and spoiled
He could be trolling us with his grandiose statements knowingly or 100% believe he is the second coming of LRH. But anyone who thinks they are going to generate a new “spiritual following” = cult in my book and those never go over well if he is deluded enough to think he is some kind of prophet. Considering how people who were clearly not mentally well have been exploited by the celebrity media for ratings (Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes and more recently Sinead O’Connor rambling on Facebook come to mind), I wish news outlets would stop giving people like Jaden a platform. He is reminding me of Anne Heche who claimed to speak to aliens when she suffered a psychotic break after she broke up with Ellen Degeneres.
I don’t believe is is mentally ill. Though I do feel sorry his parents seem to be unable to raise him and his sister as normal human beings – and I say ‘normal’ in the best way possible. Send them to the best schools money can buy; if they want to develop knowledge in other fields, the smiths have the means to hire tutors, send them on learning trips, etc. These kids are allowed by their parents to expose themselves to ridicule. And they are minors.
I totally believe that it is ok to defy the ‘conventional’ sometimes, this defiance is how we developed knowledge outside the prescribed norms – IMO, mostly by the Church. But please. This?
The heading of this piece made me laugh, but reading the entire piece just makes me sad. Either this young man is showing the signs of an emerging mental illness, he’s delusional as to his own intelligence, or he’s been lead to believe he’s far more exceptional than he actually is. Any real genius would, at his age, be trying to work with others who could nurture and guide his gift(s). They wouldn’t be doing interviews spouting off about how amazing they are.
Sometimes, I feel like this is all a huge joke on the public, and that he says crazy stuff on purpose to get publicity. Either that, or he IS nuts.
Guys his age and into their early twenties seem especially prone to expounding on grandiose scientific theories with no real understanding of the words they use. I endured some of them myself when I was a scientist-in-training in college and grad school, I didn’t bother trying to correct their peculiar misuse of words I actually understood myself but just tried to avoid getting cornered by them again… If they knew I was training in physics and chemistry, it was even worse because then they expected me to tell them how right they were rather than just gazing at them adoringly. Total bores.
Don’t know if it’s nature or nurture, but there seems to be a male tendency to mistake knowing the names of things for understanding things and their connections. So they will prattle on, using “names” that sound all science-y, with no real meaning to the pseudo-sentences. When I taught electronic labs, the girls had to be convinced they could do it while the boys had to be convinced that they didn’t already know everything (while they fried all the components I had painstakingly collected for the lab, since heaven forbid they actually think and do a few calculations before turning the power on). This mistaking knowing names for real understanding is quite a problem in situations such as computer help centers. I’ve even advised people to look for a female staffer if they wanted real help, the guys so often don’t even understand the questions and keep repeating the names of things. I mentioned this observation to a guy who was an exception and very good at explaining computers to neophytes, and he thought I was right.
Anyway – Jaden has very likely spun his theories in front of friends and family who are awestruck by the words he uses but have no basis for evaluating how much or how little sense he’s making. Nobody challenges him, mostly because they can’t due to lack of knowledge but also because he seems like a nice person and nobody wants to hurt him. But he is the sort of guy I would have avoided because these guys with little knowledge but grandiose ideas are incredibly boring if you’re forced to listen politely to them and will suck the life out of you if you try to actually discuss anything with them.
Kanye says stuff exactly like this and he’s hailed as a genius.
Sigh.
Oh I think he believes it he is been bought up by his egotistical parents that he is this amazing kid who can do no wrong. He is in reality a little rich kid who has no idea about real life and anything he says is misinformed and will in no way relate to real people. His parents haven’t bothered with parenting which is why the children are so lost kids need parents not friends who allow them to raise themselves. This kids ego is so big he is so deluded it isn’t funny he needs to shut up and his parents need to just go away.
The Smith kids were failed utterly by their parents.
Shut up, Wesley!
Seriously, that’s all I can think of when he starts going on and on.
Completely blame his parents though; he is a product of his environment and their parenting.
gr0ids will be gr0ids…
In the name of all that’s holy, what have his parents told/taught him about himself and about life? He’s obviously utterly deluded and, in the future when Will and Jada aren’t around to hold onto the guy ropes, I predict young Mr Smith will struggle with life. Sad but true.