I don’t know much about author Terry McMillan, but I did read How Stella Got Her Groove Back and I have a vague memory of the 1998 movie. McMillan’s 24 years younger Jamaican boy toy, her romance with whom was chronicled in the book, has since left her for a man and probably only married her for his green card. That’s not related much to this story and I just found it interesting when the news came out.

Anyway McMillan tweeted recently that Willow and Jaden Smith are pretty arrogant for a couple of little kids and that they’re being “pimped and exploited.” McMillan went on to talk about her own son, who is around Willow’s age and is in the fourth grade. Willow, 10, of course has a singing career and is slated to star in a remake of Annie, produced by her dad Will. Jaden, 12, has starred in several movies including The Pursuit of Happyness and last year’s Karate Kid remake. You can read McMillian’s entire statement about this on Bossip and here’s a segment:

The Smith children already act like child stars. There’s an arrogance in their demeanor and behavior. I find it incredibly sad. It feels like the Smith children are being pimped and exploited. Or, they’re already hungry for fame. What about 4th grade?

A lot of A-list movie stars shielded their children from the Hollywood-world until they were old enough to decide. Look at those who didn’t. Look at Lindsay. Phoenix. To name but a few. They miss out on childhood. It’s more important than fame.

[Via Bossip]

I agree with her in principle. There is something stuck up about the Smith kids, but it’s not very nice to call them on it. They may act like they’re happy to have Hollywood careers but that’s the only life they know. If their parents encourage them to have careers in the spotlight that’s what they’re going to do. They’re just little kids and it’s not their fault.

After this quote got picked up by the media, McMillan half apologized in a post in which she blames people for paying attention to her. She’s able to express herself better than most, but she’s giving us the same “there’s a war on,” “it’s your fault for paying attention to the inflammatory things I say” argument that countless celebrities have used before her.

I apologize for using the word pimp and exploit in referring to the Smith children. It was insensitive of me and wrong. Twitter is not the best forum to express some things. I didn’t know folks would take my opinion so personally. It is amazing, though, how fast an unflattering comment gets retweeted versus one that’s flattering. I’m done with this issue. My opinion isn’t going to change anything.

There are a lot more important things going on in the world right now. My Mama used to say: “They’ll talk about you if you do. And talk about you if you don’t. Let ‘em talk.” Some folks look for a reason to criticize you. They’re getting off on it and are saying much worse things than I did. I’ve got work to do. I hope everybody who has something important to do today besides worry about the Smith children, does it.

And for those of you who were so offended by what I said or thought I was being disrespectful, unfollow me.

[Via Bossip]

So McMillan isn’t apologizing for calling out the Smiths or for calling their kids arrogant, she’s apologizing for her choice of words and blaming other people for paying attention to her. I wouldn’t be down on her if she would have either owned her comments or offered a sincere apology. As it is, she’s upset that people are calling her on it. She did bring up an important point though. The Smith kids should be in school. They’ll have plenty of time for their careers once they’re finished with their education. They don’t seem very grounded at all, but look at their parents. Will and Jada are two of the richest and most famous people in the world and they live in a rarefied bubble. They’re raising their kids to be little mirror images of them and even named them after themselves.

Photo of Terry McMillan below is the most recent I could find and is from 2007. Credit: WENN.com. Willow and Jaden are shown with mom Jada on 11/21/10 and also with dad Will on 7/25/10. Credit: WENN.com

Jada Pinkett Smith’s face is still scaring the hell out of me. Also – I wanted to thank all of the commenters who suggested that she’d gotten The Madonna Chicken Cutlets Cheek Implant Special. That makes sense, because Jada’s “cheekbones” weren’t always this high. I also think she did something with her eyes – they look really different to me, and it’s not just the chicken cutlets. The wig sucks too. But I imagine it costs a lot to look this horrible. Anyway…

While Jada, Will and the family travel around the world supporting Jaden and The Karate Kid, someone asked Jada some questions. She was thrilled! Probably because she couldn’t pay people to ask her about her crapfest TNT show, HawthoRNe (poor Michael Vartan, whenever I see him in the commercials, I wince). Anyway, Jada confirmed that she was asked to play Jaden’s mom in The Karate Kid, but turned it down:

Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed that she turned down a role in the remake of The Karate Kid.

The actress, whose son Jaden Smith stars as lead character Dre Parker, said that she did not want to portray her son’s on screen mom.

“There was talk about me playing Jaden’s mother in the movie but I felt that he was going to really need his mom off camera. Mummy support,” BANG Showbiz quotes her as saying. “So we felt like we really had to be there as parents and producers just to make sure Jaden was being taken care of.”

Pinkett Smith added that she and husband Will Smith acted as producers to help guide Jaden through his first big screen leading role.

She said: “Well, we knew that we had to participate in some way. We have so much knowledge between the two of us that we want to pass on to our children. So we knew it was important to participate.”

[From Digital Spy]

I do admire her for that. I like that Will and Jada seem to be setting boundaries and a solid support system for their kids, and I really do think they’re good parents. They take their family seriously, and I have nothing but applause and kudos for the way they’re transitioning Jaden into public life. Yes, he comes across as a little full of himself. But he’s also really young, and his parents are being really smart about it, so good for all of them.

Here are some more pics of the family – Willow kills me every time! I love that kid.

Header: Jada’s scary face in Madrid on July 21, 2010. Credit: WENN.

I know a lot of people dislike 12-year-old Jaden Smith, our newest movie star. But I don’t feel like hating on a little kid, especially one who is totally bringing it. Now – I do admit I love Jaden’s dad Will. Will is the bomb, and he treats his fans with respect, and he’s actually a really solid actor. But Will never really brings it, fashion or style-wise. As for Jaden’s mom Jada – ugh. Her style is horrible. So where did Jaden get his style? How did Jaden learn how to be this righteous?

I know lots of people have a thing about kids’ hair and what it says about their parents, but I love when a kid is given free-reign to try different thing. That’s what those years are for! The one massive exception to that rule, of course, is teenage girls who dress like Taylor Momsen or Miley Cyrus. And even then, I feel uncomfortable making fun of them solely on their style – I try to combine it with criticism of their entitled little personalities.

So, at the end of the day, does Jaden’s righteous ‘fro matter? No, of course not. But I can’t help but think he’s one cool little kid just trying to find his way. Yes, his teenage years are going to be crazy. They’ll be difficult for all of us, I imagine. But I’m willing to give Jaden a shot, just because I think the kid’s going to end up really cool.

Jaden in London on July 15, 2010. Credit: Bauer-Griffin.

The Karate Kid whomped The A-Team this weekend at the box office, to earn $56 million from Friday to Sunday as compared to the A-Team’s relatively paltry $26 million. Karate Kid performed about $20 million over estimates and puts little Jaden Smith, 11, on par at the box office with his dad Will.

Showing the box-office moves of Will Smith, the 11-year-old kicked a disappointing summer back into gear with a fantastic $56 million Friday-Sunday debut for The Karate Kid.

As for The A-Team, the weekend’s other major release—and 1980s revival… Well, it could’ve used some Smith family magic.

The $100 million-ish adventure looked B-list with an underwhelming $26 million debut.

More results:

• The Karate Kid made its bank from families (45 percent of ticket buyers brought their own karate kids, an audience survey showed), and, interestingly, people who weren’t yet born when the Ralph Macchio original was released in 1984 (56 percent of moviegoers were under 25).

• The A-Team, based on the 1983-87 TV series, never really had a chance of showing up The Karate Kid—not when The Karate Kid cost about $60 million less to produce.

• It’s not surprising that The Karate Kid is the biggest opener of Jaden Smith’s young career. It is surprising that the film debuted larger than all but two of his dad’s movies.

• After three weekends at No. 1, Shrek Forever After ($15.8 million) slipped to third. It consoled itself by surpassing $200 million domestically.

[From E! Online]

Karate Kid is being praised by critics, and has a respectable 69% aggregate rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I haven’t seen it yet as I opted to check out Shrek 4 with my kid instead this weekend. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but was still utterly forgettable and ill conceived. It’s hard to find decent movies to see with children, which is why films like Karate Kid clean up at the box office. We also saw Marmaduke and Furry Vengeance recently and they were both terrible. Marmaduke wasn’t as bad as Furry Vengeance, but it was still predictable and completely trite.

The Karate Kid isn’t about karate exactly, but involves wushu, a type of kung fu. Young star Jaden Smith explained on Letterman that the film was named in honor of the producer of the first (and second) Karate Kid, who helped them out by allowing them to use the original name.

Jaden was very calm and self assured on Letterman, but it veered into tween arrogance at times. The little kid is a movie star and he knows it. (You can watch the video below and here.) Letterman asked Jaden if he goes to school and he joked “right now, I’m not in school, because I’m here with you.” When Letterman asked him if he’d seen the original Karate Kid, Jaden quipped “I had to, because I knew that you’d be asking me.”

Will Smith and his youngest son Jaden, 10, appeared in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness together as father and son. Mom Jada Pinkett Smith told Moviefone that she had a serious talk with her husband about whether her children should pursue show business. She said that she was supportive from the beginning but asked Will if he was fully ok with it because she knew Jaden would be successful:

You know, I was actually really OK with it because my kids were born into this. It’s really something they see as a family business. Like, “You guys do it, so we feel like it’s something we should be doing too. And we’re pretty good at it, so I think we’re gonna rock with this for a little while, Mom, until something changes.” When Jaden told his father, “I can do that,” I pulled Will aside and said, “Look. Don’t have him audition if you’re not really considering possibly having him do this. Because you’re not gonna find anyone who’s going to give you what he’s going to give you. I’m just telling you that.” Will was like, “Oh, OK …” [Laughs] And he went in and blew everybody away and Will was like, “Oh my god, this is real.” And I said, “I told you.”

[From Moviefone]

Jada also says she doesn’t give her kids an allowance and has them use their own money when they want to buy things for themselves. She says it teaches them the value of money. Her daughter Willow, 8, was in I Am Legend in 2007 with dad Will and also appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, which was out in July.

Now that Jaden is set to appear as the star in a remake of The Karate Kid, he seems to have cemented his status as an up and coming young actor:

Columbia Pictures is back in the dojo with a new version of the 1984 hit “The Karate Kid,” which has been refashioned as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith.

The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (who launched the original franchise) and Overbrook Entertainment’s James Lassiter, Will Smith and Ken Stovitz. Will Smith, who is the 10-year-old actor’s father, co-starred alongside Jaden in his feature debut, “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which Overbrook and Escape Artists produced for Columbia.

The script is being written by Chris Murphy, and the film will shoot next year in Beijing and other cities. While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.

China Film Group Corp. will co-produce in China.

The younger Smith, who next stars in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” is a martial arts practitioner.

[From Variety]

In the interview quoted earlier, Jada also addressed criticism that her kids may be growing up too fast by getting into showbusiness at such young ages. It seems like a valid question especially now that the news is out that Jaden is about to star in a movie at the ripe age of 10.

Q: Do you ever feel like they’re growing up too fast?

Well, my humble opinion — and it’s a very humble opinion because all kids are different and parents always have to be able to recognize what their kids need — but if there’s something that kids can do to work and actually feel like they’re participating and providing for the family in some way, there is nothing better for a child’s self-value. I’ve just watched it — I think part of that is what keeps them on Earth. They feel like they’re real participants, and contributing to their own lives and really doing things that they can be proud of, that they own.

[From Variety]

I gained some respect for Jada reading that, and hope that she’s right about her kids and that they’ll remain down to earth. Little Willow has been quoted talking about herself in the third person, and she and Jaden even wore sunglasses on the red carpet at the Kit Kittredge premiere, although Jaden took his off at one point. Maybe Jada keeps it more under control than her kids make it seem, and I would bet she’s the type of mom that picks her battles. Jaden’s star is about to get a lot brighter and he’ll need some guidance from his very famous parents.

Update: There’s a lot of interest in how Jada gives the children access to their money. She says she manages her children’s money for them and gives them an allowance from their earnings. Here’s that part of the interview:

11. Do you think they really understand it all yet?

I’ve watched them really blossom, and I tell you what — them working gives them more appreciation for what we do. They get it! When mommy and daddy are out on the set, they know what that means and what it is. And they’re making their own money, so they’re very like, “Uh-uh, I’m not gonna buy that!” [Laughs] They’re very responsible how they spend their own money. They know what it means to work hard for something, which is fantastic. They have to utilize their own money for their special things, which is great for me.

12. Will and Jada don’t give their kids allowances?

Heck, no! [Laughs] Guess what? They make their own money! They get a certain amount of money from their own money. How about that? Allowance from their own money. [Laughs] For me, this is not just about, “Ooh, you’re doing movies!” While we’re doing this, you’re gonna be learning about life. When you work and you spend money, money goes away. So you better be really clear on what you’re spending and why. And let me tell you, they don’t spend. They are like, “OK, let me think on this. Do I really want that?” [Laughs] But if I’m buying it, it’s like, “I have to have it!” [Laughs]

Will Smith and Jaden are shown at the Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa premiere on 10/26/08. The whole family including Jada, Jaden, Willow and Trey are shown at the Hancock premiere on 6/30/08. Willow and Jaden are also seen with their mom at the Kit Kitteredge premiere on 6/19/08. Credit: WENN