Willow and Jaden Smith: Our parents are our 'biggest role models'

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Famous siblings Willow and Jaden Smith consider their parents their biggest role models.

The 15-year-old singer and 18-year-old actor discussed the formative influence of dad Will Smith and mom Jada Pinkett Smith while speaking to Pharrell Williams for the September issue of Interview magazine.

"Growing up, all I saw was my parents trying to be the best people they could be, and people coming to them for wisdom, coming to them for guidance, and them not putting themselves on a pedestal," Willow said.

"What my parents have given to me is not anything that has to do with money or success or anything that society says people should be focusing on -- it's something spiritual that only certain people can grasp and accept," she added. "And that's how I act and move in the world today."

Will and Jada, who married in 1997, have donated millions of dollars to charity throughout their acting careers. The couple also established the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation to benefit various community-based organizations.

"My parents are definitely my biggest role models," Jaden agreed. "And that's where me and Willow both pull all our inspiration from to change the world. It all comes from a concept of affecting the world in a positive way and leaving it better than it was than when we came."

"Where me and Willow come from, a lot of [work] is trying to make society more efficient," he said. "We want to create a society that is working for us and with us -- and we're working for society, not against it."

Will had voiced his admiration for Willow and Jaden in an interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra in February. The actor, who is also dad to 23-year-old son Trey Smith, said he and Jada raised their kids to be confident and independent thinkers.

"There's a really powerful, internal quality as an artist that as parents we encourage," he said of Willow and Jaden's offbeat style. "You got to get out on the edge, you have to try things ... Jaden is 100 percent fearless."

Willow, who released her debut album, Ardipithecus, in December, recently landed the cover of CR Fashion Book. Jaden, meanwhile, plays Marcus "Dizzee" Kipling on the Netflix series The Get Down.