Willow Smith candidly opened up during an Oct. 5 “Red Table Talk” episode about her experience with a cyber stalker breaking into her home.
Smith’s cyber stalking incident occurred after a convicted sex offender named Walter James Whaley began communicating with the singer online about how he wanted to create a family with her. Things ultimately took a turn for the worst last December after Whaley climbed the fence and tried to gain access to Smith’s California residence while she was away on vacation.
Following the event, Smith filed a restraining order against Whaley. He was instructed by a judge to stay 100 yards away from her. The 20-year-old revealed to her mother Jada Pinkett Smith and grandmother Adrienne Banfield-Norris the extremes her stalker went to in order to get close to her.
“Cyberstalking is a little bit more insidious and scary. This guy was doing that to me. And he was actually doing that to me for a couple of years, actually. He basically got my patterns. During December when we were gone for a family vacation, he actually came to my house and broke in while we were away. Crazy, crazy times.”
As the conversation continued, Pinkett Smith jumped in and shared what she and her husband, Will Smith, did following the break-in to ensure Smith’s safety. “Once they [officers] got all the evidence that they needed from inside, we had to take all the stuff out of the refrigerator because we were afraid maybe he put something in the drinks or in her food to knock her out.”
The actress claimed they went as far as to check Smith’s toothpaste and her vent. “We had to go through everything. Toothpaste, everything. Everything in the house had to go … We went in the vents ’cause we didn’t know if he put cameras up. We had to really strip the whole house down. We shored her up, strongly.”
