The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s original Aunt Vivian actor, Janet Hubert, has offered a reassuring update on her relationship with former co-star and series lead Will Smith.
Hubert, 69, and Smith, 56, were involved in a nearly 30-year feud, which began after she exited the series in 1993. At the time, she explained her departure was due to “creative differences.” Smith, however, appeared on Atlanta’s local V-103 radio station, claiming she left because of her ego.
His abrasive comments ignited a decades-long public spat, which was eventually resolved in the show’s 2020 special reunion, when Smith admitted he had “made the set very difficult for Janet.”
Now, appearing in a recent segment of V-103, Hubert joked that she had returned “to the scene of the crime.”
“Back in the day, back 35 years ago, this station was the station that [Smith] did that first interview ... and dogged me out,” she recalled, leaving the hosts stunned.
“I’m at the scene of the crime, so it’s very cathartic for me and very healing for me to be here,” she insisted. “We’ve come full circle, everybody.”
Asked how their relationship has been since Smith’s public apology and reconciliation, Hubert emphatically said: “So good.”
She credited him with building the website for her independent animated feature, JG and the BC Kids, and helping to promote it.
“Imma give my baby his props. He put together the website with his team for me,” she said. “He gave me his entire website team, paid for it, and then gave me his entire social media team to work with, and also helped me put the pictures out there to Amazon, to Netflix, to this one, to that one. Yes, he gave me his entire team — his entire team.”
She laughed that while he didn’t give her a million dollars, she acknowledged him for providing the resources to help launch her project.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996, saw Hubert originate the role of Aunt Vivian in the first three seasons. The role was eventually recast with Daphne Maxwell Reid.
Shortly after her departure, Smith appeared on V-103, claiming: “I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air Show... She’s mad now, but she’s been mad all along. She said once, ‘I’ve been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.’ No matter what, to her I’m just the Antichrist.”
In 2011, Hubert labeled Smith an “asshole” after he posted a holiday reunion picture with several castmates. “He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up,” she told TMZ. “This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.”
After several more years of trading jabs, Smith and Hubert finally reconciled during the sitcom’s 2020 special reunion.
“I can see now the level of pain and the level of struggle that it was just for you to show up every day,” he said, to which Hubert responded, “But you took all of that away from me — with your words. Words can kill. I lost everything. Reputation. Everything. And I understand you were able to move forward, but you know those words, calling a Black woman ‘difficult’ in Hollywood, is the kiss of death.”
Then, in 2024, the Oscar-winning King Richard star went even further, taking greater responsibility for his actions.
“I made a horrible error and misjudgment of her value and power and beauty to the show,” Smith said of Hubert on an episode of Vice’s Black Comedy in America series. “I horribly underestimated what she was for me at that point in my life.”
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