Jada Pinkett Smith turned down a starring role in 'The Karate Kid'.

The 'Women' actress - who produced 2010 reimagining of the classic 80s martial arts movie alongside her husband Will Smith, with their son Jaden as lead character Dre Parker - believes her son needed attention away from work, and was not willing to work both on and off screen.

She told BANG Showbiz: "There was talk about me playing Jaden's mother in the movie but I felt that he was going to really need his mom off camera. Mommy support. So we felt like we really had to be there as parents and producers just to make sure Jaden was being taken care of."

However, she knew she had to undertake work in the project because of the help her and Will could give to Jaden.

She said: "Well, we knew that we had to participate in some way. We have so much knowledge between the two of us that we want to pass on to our children. So we knew it was important to participate."

'The Karate Kid' is released worldwide throughout July and August.