In 2010, Jaden and Willow Smith talked to EW, were endearingly normal

Teresa Jue
Updated
That time Jaden and Willow Smith were endearingly normal in a 2010 EW interview

Yes, Monday’s much-discussed New York Times’ T Magazine Q&A with Jaden and Willow Smith was touted as the siblings’ “first-ever joint interview.” But in 2010, EW spoke to the siblings Smith, who were named to that year’s Entertainers of the Year list in the wake of Jaden’s The Karate Kid remake and Willow’s “Whip My Hair.”

Back then, 12-year-old Jaden and 10-year-old Willow were starstruck by other celebrities and just on the cusp of their own respective stardoms. Here are a few nostalgic tidbits, in case you’d forgotten that Jaden and Willow were not always Prana energy-infused holograms spouting diatribes against school and driver’s ed.

Back in 2010…

Jaden Smith was excited to meet Lady Gaga.

When asked which was their most exciting celebrity encounter in 2010, Jaden didn’t spout aphorisms on how celebrities are chambers within the mind, and responded with this simple line: “I met Lady Gaga, and she was covered in, like, steak. I actually gave her a hug.”

Jaden hinted at his future as a teen philosopher.

Then-12-year-old Jaden said his favorite movie was Inception, Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending dreamscape drama, which might have clued into present-day Jaden’s obsession with thinking so hard.

“I’ve seen it, like, four times. I’m still trying to figure it out,” Smith said.

The fans were crazier than Jaden.

Jaden told the Times that he wanted to be “the craziest person of all time,” but there was once a point where his fans seemed to quantify that goal. When asked what the best and worse parts of fame was, Willow recounted the time that a bleeding fan approached Jaden.

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Willow Smith got in trouble for eating stuff out of the container. (Celebrity kids—they’re just like us.)

Perhaps what emphasized the “kid-ness” of the interview was this admission by Willow: “I get in trouble for eating whipped cream right out of the container. Bad to the bone!” Sigh. Kids sure do get into existentialism real young these days.

Read the rest of the interview here.