Willow Smith & Rumored Boyfriend To Lock Themselves In A Box For 24 Hours To Raise Anxiety Awareness, Inspired By Kobe Bryant’s Death

Tyler Cole, Willow Smith, Kobe Bryant

Willow Smith & Rumored Boyfriend To Lock Themselves In A Box For 24 Hours To Raise Anxiety Awareness, Inspired By Kobe Bryant’s Death

Willow Smith is tackling her battle with anxiety head-on.

The artist and her rumored boyfriend Tyler Cole are set to conduct an experiment where they spend 24 hours in a box at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art’s Geffen Contemporary. The two, who will be releasing a joint album The Anxiety Friday (March 13), have been open about heir struggle with anxiety. The project will help them navigate through their in-the-moment emotions from paranoia, rage, sadness, and numbness to euphoria, strong interest, compassion, and acceptance. They are set to be inside of each emotion for three hours and will only leave the box to go to the bathroom for a maximum of two minutes at a time.

She said that the recent passing of Kobe Bryant played a factor.

“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. 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.”

The 24 hours will begin Wednesday (March 11) at 9 p.m. One side of the box will be a glass wall, and the other three will be a mural that Willow Smith and Tyler Cole create that will include positive affirmations. Observers will be able to watch the two go through the experiment, pick up self-help books and give money to groups that raise awareness about mental health. It will also be live-streamed.

Willow Smith said,

“This is not so that people are like, ‘Oooh!’ This is for awareness. The first thing we’re going to be writing on our title wall is something along the lines of: ‘The acceptance of one’s fears is the first step toward understanding.’ So then you know this is on something real. This is for a real cause.”

Willow Smith, Tyler Cole

While she’s started seeing a therapist, the daughter of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith said she’s also coped with her anxiety by

 “accepting that we don’t have control over what Mother Earth and the cosmos are gonna do, and coming back to the acceptance of things all being in a divine order.”

She also said of the upcoming experience:

“We might grunt or scream — it’s going to be very primal.” 

She explained how they came up with the idea.

“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?”

Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith

She said she told Jada Pinkett Smith about the idea and the A Different World actress told her to reiterate that

 “everyone’s anxiety takes different forms.”

Willow Smith continued,

“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.”

What are your thoughts on the experiment? Tell us in the comments.