Will Smith and former co-star Janet Hubert finally ended a decades-old feud when they reunited for the “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunion special on HBO Max.
According to E Online, the costars came together for the first time in years to bury the hatchet, creating a highlight moment in the special. Smith and Hubert sat down and cleared the air in a wonderfully honest conversation in front of fellow alums Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and Alfonso Ribeiro.
“We never really together publicly talk about Janet and what happened,” Smith said in front of the other cast members. “And for me, it felt like I couldn’t celebrate 30 years of Fresh Prince without finding a way to celebrate Janet. So she agreed to sit down and have a conversation with me. And Janet and I saw one another for the first time in 27 years yesterday.”
Janet Hubert played the original Aunt Viv for the first three seasons of the hit NBC show but departed in 1993. Daphne Maxwell Reid then took over the role for the remaining three seasons until the show’s finale in 1996.
A feud developed after Hubert’s departure, and she and Smith have taken shots at each other in the media for years. In 2011 that she famously told TMZ she would not participate in a reunion show because she would “never do anything with an a–hole like Will Smith.”
According to Hubert, the feud began when the producers cut her salary after the third season and offered her a “really bad deal.” She explained that she wasn’t actually fired but simply felt that she had no choice but to reject the offer, causing producers to replace her with Reid.
“During that third season when I got pregnant, there was a lot of things going on in my life and Will’s life as well,” Hubert said during the reunion. “Home life was not good at all. I was no longer laughing, smiling, joking because there were things going on that nobody knew about. Cast had no idea what was going on.”
Smith claims that he had regrets about that situation as well, “During that time of her pregnancy, I wasn’t sensitive, wasn’t perceptive. Now that I’ve had three kids, I’ve learned some things I did not know at the time. I would do things very differently. I can see where I made the set very difficult for Janet.”
Hubert reportedly carried a grudge and claimed she was told that Smith had banished her, and damaged her reputation.
“You took all that away from me with your words,” Hubert told the now world-renowned movie star. “Words can kill. I lost everything. Reputation. Everything, everything. I understand you were able to move forward. You know those words—calling a Black woman ‘difficult’ in Hollywood is the kiss of death. It’s hard enough being a dark-skinned Black woman in this business. I felt it was necessary for us to finally move forward. And I’m sorry I have blasted you to pieces.”
The two exchanged apologies with Smith telling Hubert, “The person I want to be is someone who protects you,” he continued, “not someone that unleashes dogs on you.”
The cast ended the reunion with a group hug and Smith proclaiming, “We good.”
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