Earlier this month, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's 13-year-old daughter, Willow Smith, caused a ruckus after a photo of her in bed with a shirtless 20-year-old actor, Moises Arias—Rico from Hannah Montana—was posted on Instagram.
The Smith family caught a lot of flak on social media and had people questioning their parenting skills. Although Will didn’t make any comments about the photos, Jada said the photo wasn’t a big deal: “Here’s the deal. There was nothing sexual about that picture or that situation; you guys are projecting your trash onto it, and you’re acting like covert pedophiles, and that’s not cool.”
But unfortunately, the photo is now a big deal to the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services. According to Radar Online, the department has officially opened an investigation into the incident. “The investigation was formally opened last week and is being taken very seriously by the department,” an insider told Radar. “Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have been extremely cooperative with officials. Of course, they aren’t happy that their parenting skills are under scrutiny, but they understand.”
The source also revealed that social workers will talk to Willow separately as well as to Arias. “This won’t just be one or two visits with the family, and it will likely be an open investigation for at least a month, out of an abundance of caution,” the source said.
Will and Jada have not commented on the investigation.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.