Willow Smith felt 'brainwashed' during her younger years

Pop star Willow Smith suffered anxiety attacks after releasing the hit single 'Whip My Hair' in 2010, and she has confessed to feeling overwhelmed by the situation at the time.

Willow said: "That was crazy. I was brainwashed into thinking, 'No, you're being a brat, suck it up'. Then I grew up, and I realised it was something that needed to be dealt with."

However, the 21-year-old pop star found that exercise helped to improve her mental health amid the coronavirus lockdown, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She told The Independent: "I became a little obsessive with physical exertion, I didn't allow myself to feel (anxiety), I just wanted to run it out. Sometimes the body is so intelligent."

Willow's parents, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, have both been candid about their personal struggles over recent years.

The singer doesn't have any worries about them oversharing.

Willow, who has co-hosted the Facebook Watch talk show 'Red Table Talk', said: "Everyone is going through something and the biggest disservice you could do (to yourself and others) is put up a facade and be like, that's not the case (here). That sounds wrong to me."

Asked if she ever feels as though her family are too open with the public, Willow replied: "I feel I've always understood that my parents are their own people. A lot of kids think of their parents like 'Your whole identity is for me'.

"(But) seeing them in this lifestyle we had, from a very young age it was clear to me they weren't just my parents. They're full, other people who have their own emotions."