NEED TO KNOW
- Janet Hubert shares an update on her current relationship with Will Smith after the former costars ended their decades-long feud in 2020
- In 1990, Hubert was cast as the original Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air before being replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid after season 3
- The hit sitcom lasted for six seasons before Smith went on to pursue his Oscar-winning acting career
Janet Hubert is clearing up any confusion over her current relationship with Will Smith.
In a clip shared to The Big Tigger Show’s Instagram account Tuesday, Sept. 9, the 69-year-old actress shed light on where she and her Fresh Prince of Bel-Air costar stand today after previously ending a feud that lasted nearly 30 years.
“It’s so good,” Hubert replied with a smile when asked if she and Smith have a cordial relationship during her interview on Atlanta’s V-103 radio station.
In 1990, Hubert was cast as Vivian Banks, affectionately known as “Aunt Viv” to Will, who played himself.
However, she exited the show in 1993 after three seasons, citing “creative differences,” and was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid. For nearly three decades after, Hubert and Smith occasionally feuded in the public eye. They later reunited and buried the hatchet during the show’s HBO Max 30-year reunion special in 2020.
On Tuesday, Hubert reflected on the full-circle moment, revealing that Smith once “dogged me out” on the same Atlanta radio station, V-103, years ago. She said now things between them are “so good,” and even credited Smith for creating a website for her independent animated feature JG and the BC Kids, and helping her promote it.
In recent years, both have expressed regrets for not settling their issues sooner.
Speaking to PEOPLE in 2021, Hubert said she and Smith had a “very good relationship” since the reunion special.
“We text each other back and forth all the time,” she continued. “I meant it with all my heart when I hugged him, because I saw that little boy, that little 21-year-old boy. Had we had an opportunity to talk back then, I think this would have never happened.”
In a 2024 episode of Vice’s Black Comedy in America series, Smith said he “made a horrible error” against Hubert when they starred in the hit sitcom.
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“I made a horrible error and misjudgment of her value and power and beauty to the show,” the I Am Legend star told host Chris Spencer while reflecting on his career. “I horribly underestimated what she was for me at that point in my life.”
Prior to their reconciliation, Smith told the Atlanta radio station that Hubert “wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air Show,” per Vanity Fair (citing a 1993 issue of Jet). On Tuesday, Herbert joked that she was “at the scene of the crime” where the feud first started.
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