It’s beautiful seeing Will Smith and Janet Hubert put their differences to the side and move forward in life.
Will invited his former costar to his promotional event for his new memoir, Will. Recently, Will and Janet ended their decade-long feud.
During the event, Will took a moment to acknowledge Janet’s presence, The Jasmine Brand reports. Audience members gave the actress a standing ovation as Janet grew emotional. Will said, “Stand up, Janet. Get your flowers! Take it in! Take that in!” Then Will spoke on the moment they decided to put their differences to the side. The Fresh Prince actor said,
“That is such a beautiful thing. Thank you all. You know, Janet and I–I’m assuming you all saw Janet and I a few months ago on the 30th anniversary of Fresh Prince, for the first time talked out the issues that we had had. It was one of the most healing experiences of my life, and it was a big part of the place that working on this memoir got me into. I just wanna thank you, Janet, for being open. That’s a big part of the exploration that I wanted to do in this book.”
Janet replied, “Will I am humbled, you got me good this time. I came to support YOU, and you shared your light. I was overwhelmed by the love! THANK you everyone!”
On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Janet played Aunt Viv for seasons one – three and Daphne Maxwell Reid was on it until it ended in season six. The reason for the switch is because, behind the scenes, Janet had issues with Will Smith. He called her “difficult” to work with, however she later revealed at the time she was pregnant and in an abusive relationship. In the past, Janet said,
“Something I would like to clarify is during that third season when I got pregnant, there was a lot of things going on in my life and in Will [Smith]’s life as well. There was some friction because I was pregnant. Home life was not good at all. I was no longer laughing, smiling, joking because there were things that were going on that nobody knew about. The cast had no idea what was going on.”
During the sitcom’s 30th reunion special, Janet told Will how his words hurt her. She said,
“Words can kill. I lost everything. Reputation, everything, everything. 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. It’s the kiss of death. It’s hard enough being a dark-skinned Black woman in this business.”
"Calling a black woman difficult in Hollywood is the kiss of death and its hard enough being a dark-skinned black woman in this business" – Janet Hubert #FreshPrinceReunion pic.twitter.com/EltXiy3QoH
— Geeks of Color (@GeeksOfColor) November 19, 2020