Jaden Smith wants to be emancipated

Will Smith once rapped that "parents just don't understand." But it sounds like he and wife Jada Pinkett Smith do understand why son Jaden wants to be emancipated and get his own place -- for his fifteenth birthday.

"He says, 'Dad, I want to be emancipated.' I know if we do this, he can be an emancipated minor, because he really wants to have his own place, like ooh," Will laughed to British newspaper The Sun. "That's the backlash. On the other side, if kids just want to have command of their lives, I understand."

Smith, who began his career in music before launching his acting career in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," says he understands why his son, also an actor and good friends with Justin Bieber, might want to strike out on his own.

"It's very similar for Jaden and me - your father's the biggest movie star in the world, and you're struggling for your little piece of dignity in this extreme shadow."

In their new movie "After Earth," Jaden's character Kitai Raige has to prove he is as tough as his legendary father Cypher. Will believes Jaden drew on personal experience while shooting.

The Smiths are already known to be relaxed parents, who "don't generally believe in punishment." Rather than escape overbearing parents, it seems Jaden just wants a place to call his own.

"Nobody wants to be wrong, all parts of yourself fight like crazy to not be wrong. So I’ll say to Jaden, 'Why was that the right thing to do for your life?' and if he can explain why kicking his sister in the chest was the right thing to do, we can see to it that he understands that it wasn’t so smart."