Willow Smith on being polyamorous, 'it give freedom to create relationship for yourself'

Recently on Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith's daughter, Willow Smith, revealed that she is polyamorous. The show is hosted by Willow alongside her mother and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris. In the latest episode, she opened up about being polyamorous and explained that it is 'about being able to have the freedom to create a relationship for yourself', to the confusion of her grandmother. She told Jada and Adrienne that she enjoyed the freedom allowed by polyamory.

Willow Smith is polyamorous

Willow Smith said, "With polyamory, I think the main foundation is the freedom to be able to create a relationship style that works for you and not just stepping into monogamy because that's what everyone around you says is the right thing to do". "I was like, how can I structure the way that I approach relationships with that in mind?", she added. "Also, doing research into polyamory, the main reasons why monogamous relationships, or why marriage, why divorces happen, is infidelity".

Responding to her granddaughter's revelation, Adrienne said, "Feels like it’s really all just centred around sex”. Willow replied that this kind of relationship is more than just sex, as it also considers the needs of the partner. She said, "Let's say you haven't always been the kind of person that wanted to have sex all the time, but your partner is. Are you gonna be the person to say, you know, ‘Just because I don't have these needs, you can't have them either?’ And so that's kind of one of the reasons why I actually was interested in poly because I was introduced to it through kind of a nonsexual lens. In my friend group, I'm the only polyamorous person, and I have the least sex out of all of my friends". 

Jada revealed her first reaction after Willow opened up about being polyamorous. She recalled, "When you were like, ‘Hey, this is my get down.’ I was like, ‘I totally get it.' Wanting to set up your life in a way that you can have what it is that you want, I think anything goes as long as the intentions are clear". Gammy (Adrienne), too, admitted that she considered polyamory with her hubby, Rodney, before they got married. 

Adrienne stated, “Even outside of the counselling that you get from your pastor before you get married, 'cause most people that get married, will get counselling from their pastors because there is a religious aspect to it, a God aspect to it, Jada," she said. "And we had a deep conversation about, what does this mean to us? What do we wanna create for ourselves?". "And we actually talked about polyamory, and was that something that we wanted to explore? We had that conversation". 

What is polyamorous?

The word polyamory was first coined in the late 20th century, with Greek and Latin roots. It means 'multiple loves'. In interaction with USA Today, therapist Sheila Addison shared that polyamory is a 'particular approach to consensual non-monogamy' that 'prioritizes ongoing emotional and sexual connections with multiple partners'. She said that it is not to be confused with polygamy which means 'multiple wives'.