There may not be actual royalty in the U.S., but the mega-famous of Hollywood all but fill the role. But where plenty of the acting elite choose to hide their children from the spotlight, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have never shied away from the limelight with their little ones. Willow Smith may be the youngest, but the burgeoning actress and musician has worked hard on her career, keeping herself mostly removed from the messy drama kicked up by her parents over the last decade. While her father deals with the fallout over the now infamous Oscar slap, and her mother continues to air the couple’s dirty laundry, Willow has been grinding to make a name for herself. But how much has the 23-year-old earned throughout her more than decade long career?
Famous family and breakout success
Willow Camille Reign Smith was born on October 31, 2000. The second of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s children, she is just two years younger than her full brother, Jaden, and seven years younger than her half-brother, Willard Carrol “Trey” Smith – Will Smith’s only child with his first wife, Shree Zampino. The youngest Smith made her acting debut alongside her dad in I Am Legend when she was just 7 years old. Will Smith has said that his daughter had an innate yearning for the spotlight, and though she may have been imitating her older brother Jaden’s move to acting — Jaden made his debut in The Pursuit of Happyness at eight years old — his youngest felt it was her calling.
Smith would continue to add acting roles to her portfolio, including voice work and eventually music in her ever-growing accolades. Her first moment alone in the spotlight came in 2010 with her first single, “Whip My Hair.” The pop song went platinum in the U.S. and peaked at 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 after garnering 100,000 views on YouTube in just one day. Critics and audiences alike flocked to the song, which was seen as a sassy yet kid-friendly “club beat,” and one that celebrated black hair and appearances. The track landed her a record deal with Jay-Z’s record label, Roc Nation, and the rapper became a mentor for her.
She performed her follow-up single, “21st Century Girl” on the Oprah Winfrey show the day after it was released in 2011. Just a few months later, Smith released her first collaborative effort, partnering with Nicki Minaj on “Fireball.” The song was a commercial failure but didn’t deter Smith from releasing several more singles over the year, though none reached the acclaim of “Whip My Hair.” That same year, Will Smith announced his intent to remake the classic musical, Annie, this time with a black cast and with Willow in the lead role. But by the time the movie started production in 2013, Smith was deemed too old for the role.
In 2013, Smith collaborated with DJ Fabrega on several songs including “Summer Fling.” The singer was blasted for the mature tones of the song, though Smith defended the lyrics saying that “fling” in this context referred to the short-lived joys of summer, rather than an affair as listeners misconstrued.
Later projects and net worth
After her stunning debut, Smith struggled to remain relevant in the music world, despite frequent collaborations with high-profile performers. Smith took a step back from music until 2015 when she returned to the scene with more experimental sounds and a grunge/emo vibe. Her later work initially failed to capture the success of “Whip My Hair,” but her 2020 album, The Anxiety, where she collaborated with Tyler Cole, would eventually blow up on TikTok. The song, “Meet me at Our Spot” went viral, and despite the modulation added to the song for the platform, it still pushed the track to the top 40 of the Billboard Top 100.
Since her musical metamorphosis, Smith has worked with several prominent musicians like Avril Lavigne, Machine Gun Kelly, and Travis Barker. She regularly appeared on Red Table Talk — a talk show hosted on Facebook Watch that features Smith’s mother and grandmother — until its cancellation in early 2023. After more than a decade, the youngest Smith has amassed a $6M fortune, but her prominent parents and Nepo-Baby status all but ensure that number’s continued growth.
