This year marks the 30th anniversary of the hit sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” The long-running show starring Will Smith has been commemorating the show’s success with a number of different promotions and specials including the new Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion show now streaming on HBO Max.
The reunion show takes us all down memory lane and even honors the late, great James Avery (Uncle Phil).
But everything isn’t all warm and fuzzy as the special even highlights the highly publicized fallout between Smith and Janet Hubert, the original ‘Aunt Viv’ character who was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid in the show’s final three seasons.
For the first time in 27 years, Smith and Hubert come together to clear the air.
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“It felt like I couldn’t celebrate 30 years of Fresh Prince without finding a way to celebrate Janet,” Smith tells his castmates, before showing them, and the viewers, a video of their pre-taped meeting.
One of the most striking about their talk isn’t only the raw feelings and truth of it, it’s also the list of things Hubert had to deal with during that time.
During Season 3 when she became pregnant, she says, she was facing challenges in her personal life (her then-husband was abusive and unemployed), which indirectly bled into how she approached her work on set.
There was another impending health issue that deteriorated her life for over ten years.
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Janet began her career in the entertainment industry as a singer, dancer, and actress on Broadway.
Between 1988 and 1990, she worked in a few TV shows such as “21 Jump Street,” “A Man Called Hawk,” and “Tales from the Crypt.”
But her big break came in 1990 when she started portraying Aunt Vivian Banks on “Fresh Prince.”
Janet appeared on “The Doctors” to talk about the health problem that she had been struggling with for over a decade.
After going to a chiropractor who put a traction device on her neck, she heard a crack.
From that point on, she started feeling “violent, intense pain,” dizziness, as well as mild tremors that eventually became powerful.
Janet had to be taken to a hospital after she blacked out once. Unfortunately, the more than 40 doctors (48 to be exact!) she visited couldn’t find what was wrong with her.
After saying that she was “scared to death,” the actress confessed:
“I felt trapped inside my own body! I couldn’t go out of the house; I couldn’t stand up straight. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I said to my husband, ”I’d rather die than live like this any longer.”
The traction device she spoke of was more than likely a
