Always Wondered What Happened to Aunt Viv
I was always a huge fan of The Fresh Prince of Belair and was actually pissed off when they replaced the “darker” Aunt Viv with a lighter one. IMO, the first one offered more spunk (and better acting) than the one who replaced her. For years, there were a lot of rumors floating around about what TRULY happened. I heard everything from there being a ‘light skinned vs dark skinned’ issue on over to her being a straight irritable b*tch during her pregnancy, so much so that they decided to tell her where to go and how quickly to get there.
In BV Buzz, Janet Hubert talks candidly about working with Will Smith and how she was let go.
Shade! Let ME find out Will Smith was a diva in training in the 90s….
On Will, the Diva:
“Smith had people around him who made sure no one outshone him. I was happy to see Don Cheadle become the quality actor that he is, and often wondered how he made it past one episode, as Hilary’s boyfriend, being such a fierce actor. No one could be on ‘The Tonight Show,’ that first season, except Will. And I mean no one.”
On HOW she was let go:
“My agent called; it was time. He had a very funny sound to his voice, not the usual wonderfully funny Michael that I knew. ‘Jaaaannnet,’ he said, ‘I got the offer and you’re not gonna like it. They offered you 10 episodes.’ Now, to the layperson who doesn’t know what this means, each show is an episode, and the usual amount is 22, with perhaps two extra. But the show was a hit so they would order 26, with each show taking a week to shoot. I remember swallowing very, very hard. [My son] Eli was only three and half months old. That meant a cut in salary of more than $100,000.”
There’s always two sides to every story but if what she’s saying is 100% true, everything is a LOT clearer now.
Check out Janet’s site by clicking HERE!
You can read the rest of the Aunt Viv article by clicking HERE!
June 18th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I liked her better than the other aunt Viv they had.
June 18th, 2009 at 11:49 am
I agree w ladys
You really stay on top ms Jia, thanks for posting this
June 18th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
And the 2nd aunt Viv was lame as hell. Demure and no spunk at all.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
See and I heard that it was a breach of contract because she wasn’t suppose to get pregnant while on the show. It’s straight from her though. Mad at that!
June 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
@JordanXavier I totally thought the second aunt was lame too. The original was a better actress.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:18 am
I loved the original, Aunt Viv!! She was awesome! The 2nd Aunt Viv, eh not so much! I hate this light skin/dark skin thing. I hate to say it, but take a look at other shows like, “My Wife and Kids;” they replaced the dark skinned girl, with a light skinned girl. It’s just “funny” how that happens, things that make you go, “Hmm!”
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
suspect….
June 25th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
[...] couple days ago, I posted THIS article about Janet Hubert, the first mother on Fresh Prince of Belair, who is now writing a tell [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
The first aunt Viv seem stronger to me. After she left it felt like the show got dull.