For actress Jada-Pinkett Smith, nothing comes before her family-not even her career.
“I’m a woman who does a lot of things, but I’ll put it all aside to be present with my family,” she reveals in the September issue of Good HouseKeeping. “Once you know what your priorities are, it’s all so much easier. Everything falls into place.”
And Jada certainly knows her priorities. For example, the working mom recently turned down a film role because of her son Jaden, 11.
“The whole family is spending the summer in China, where Jaden’s shooting a remake of The Karate Kid. I was going to be in the film with him, but I decided that when he’s working, he needs Mommy — just Mommy, who gives the apples with the peanut butter.”
Though she always figures out “how to give [her family] what they need”, Jada also knows how to get what she wants.
“For instance, when I was considering the TV show, I sat my kids down and said, “There’s a project that Mommy wants to do. It’s going to be three months, and there might be days that I’m not going to be here when you wake up or when you go to bed. But then I might have two days off, and you can have Mommy all to yourself.”
“And their response was, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s cool, Ma!’ Willow said, ‘When you come home late, will you just come in my bedroom and give me a kiss?”
Her unbreakable mom rule: Respect. My kids are extremely respectful. You might not have to go to bed at a certain time, but do not talk crooked to anybody! Always treat people the way you want to be treated.
Her guilty pleasure: Pizza and french fries! I call it happy food.
Her ideal family day: I love just being at home. We’ll go outside on the trampoline or the swing, take a nature walk, bake — 7-Up cake, red velvet cake, chocolate chip cookies. I love to bake — that’s the only thing I do. I don’t cook at all. I can’t. My mother didn’t cook; my grandmother couldn’t cook a lick!
Her love for husband Will Smith:”I never thought that I’d be married to anybody, and I surely never thought I’d be married to anybody as long as I’ve been married to him. And I plan on being married to him for the rest of my life. It’s been eye-opening how much the connection between my husband and me has deepened.”
