Jada Pinkett Smith is living a much happier life since she stopped worrying about what other people think of her, enjoying the emotional freedom that comes with it.

She explained to Entertainment Tonight: “I think as you get older, you really get to the point where you just don’t care anymore what people think.

There’s a certain freedom that comes with that, which you really don’t have when you’re young. With age comes a lot of wisdom and I’m happier now than I have ever been, so it’s good.”

Although the actress is very much into health and fitness, she has also learned to accept herself more with age.

She said: “This is me, this is my skin, this is my face, this is my body, love it or leave it. I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more acceptance from myself and I think that releases a lot of stress. I take really good care of my body. My mother is 63 and is still looking fine. I’m hoping she passed that gene to me, we’ll see.”

The Gotham star – who has two children with husband Will Smith – also explained the importance of balancing family life and a busy career. She does, however, acknowledge that there isn’t an exact formula to making it all work out.

“You know, it really is putting one foot in front of the other. I wish I had a formula. I think it’s just knowing my priority. No matter what I am doing, my family is always my priority and I think that is what made it easy.

In the earlier stages of my family and career … I wasn’t quite sure all the time what the priority was and what the priority should be. Switched back and forth and then it just got to the point where my family is a priority. Once I had that main priority as my core, everything else falls in place where it needs to be.”