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Jaden Smith, Will Smith Laugh Off “Emancipation” Rumors

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Jaden Smith and Will Smith joked about rumors of Jaden's "emancipation" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 15, 2013.

It's not Independence Day just yet for Jaden Smith. The nearly 15-year-old actor and dad Will Smith sat down for a joint interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday, May 15, and set the record straight about rumors that Jaden is looking to get "emancipated" from his easy-going parents.

"See, here's the thing that you need to understand: I'm not going anywhere," Jaden told DeGeneres when asked about whether or not he'd requested to be considered an emancipated minor on July 8, his 15th birthday. "The thing that people don't get is everything at this house is free! So I can get anything and everything at his house, so I'm going to be there 20, 30 more years."

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"He says as soon as I have a movie that's bigger than one of his movies, I can get my own house," the Karate Kid actor joked good-naturedly.

On Monday, UK publication The Sun reported that Will, 44, had expressed reluctant acceptance that Jaden wanted to be freed from the legal guardianship of his parents.

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

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Will, who stars opposite his son in upcoming M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi thriller After Earth, clarified to DeGeneres that he had simply been making a joke that was taken out of context.

"I think I made a joke in Tokyo," he said, turning to Jaden to pinch his cheeks. "I mean… my baby boy, he's never leaving me, ever. No emancipation for the Smith kids."

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Not that Will and wife Jada Pinkett Smith are strict parents. The Smith family has similarly spoken out about giving their daughter Willow Smith, 12, freedom over her look — without legal emancipation.

"This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don't belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination," Jada wrote in a Facebook post on Nov. 21. "I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are her domain."

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