The daughter of Will Smith and her partner, Tyler Cole, are expected to transition through eight stages of anxiety while inside a box at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles, California.
- Mar 12, 2020
AceShowbiz - Willow Smith will express her lifelong struggles with anxiety in a 24-hour performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles, California.
The 19-year-old daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith told the Los Angeles Times she’s teaming up with rumored beau Tyler Cole for the piece, which commences on Wednesday, March 11 morning and will see the pair transition through eight stages of anxiety while inside a box.
The two will spend three-hour blocks exploring a different emotions relating to anxiety, including sadness, paranoia and compassion, throughout the silent piece, which she described as "very primal”.
"We're on this planet and anything could happen, like the thing that just happened with Kobe (Bryant)? That was really a knife in the heart," she said of the pair's inspiration. "Every moment is precious. And I think everyone has a fear of just not knowing what's going to happen in the future, not knowing if you're on the right path, not knowing if you're making the right choices."
Smith eventually turned to therapy, meditation and Buddhist texts to help her cope with her anxieties, which prompted her and Cole to record an album, "The Anxiety", that in turn sparked the live performance.
"We were like, 'Wouldn't it be so interesting if we could personify this experience? Starting from being scared and feeling alone and moving to a place of acceptance and joy?" she said. "We understand this is a very sensitive subject. And, we don't want to be like, 'Our experience is the experience' This is just us expressing our personal experience with this."
Fans will be able to watch Smith and Cole in the box for 15-minute periods, before entering a room with self-help books and ways to donate to mental health organizations.
"The Anxiety" will be released when the performance wraps on Thursday.
