Who is Janet Hubert? Net worth and Aunt Viv drama explained
18 November 2020, 18:00
Janet Hubert portrayed Aunt Viv in the first three seasons of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
After Will Smith teased The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air 30th anniversary reunion, viewers were shocked to see actress Janet Hubert making an appearance.
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Hubert portrayed Aunt Viv during the first three seasons of the hit NBC show, but was replaced without explanation by Daphne Maxwell Reid who played the role in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
According to various reports, Hubert had a long-standing feud with Will Smith. Her 'attitude' on set allegedly led to the violation and, ultimately, termination of her contract after the third season.
What is Janet Hubert's net worth?
Janet Hubert reportedly has a net worth of around $500,000, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The Chicago-born actress played the role of Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1993 before she was replaced.
Hubert also appeared on an episode of Friends as Chandler's boss in 2002, and later had a recurring role on One Life to Live. She has also appeared in Gilmore Girls, NYPD Blue, The Bernie Mac Show, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, and General Hospital.
Why did Aunt Viv change in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air?
The rift between Janet Hubert and Will Smith, who played the show's protagonist, played a huge part in Hubert's replacement, according to various interviews and reports.
Hubert fell pregnant in real life in 1992, which was used to create a plot line whereby Nicky Banks, Viv's son and Will's cousin, was introduced into the show.
"I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be 'The Aunt Viv of Bel Air Show' because I know she is going to dog me in the press," Smith told an Atlanta radio station in 1993.
"She has basically gone from a quarter of a million dollars a year to nothing. She's mad now but she's been mad all along."
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Trailer
Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks on the show, later reiterated Smith's comments. "Basically, at the end of the day, the b*tch was crazy. She went nuts!" he said, claiming her behaviour on set became "unacceptable".
"We felt like when we were doing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that we were a family. She, at that point, ruined that, and she made it very difficult for us to work, and unfortunately she was then fired. They brought in Daphne Maxwell-Reid, who we absolutely loved, and we moved on. Oh well."
Hubert would later argue that she was "never difficult on set", calming she was "so professional, it wasn't even funny."
"I think Will simply needed to win, and I think sometimes when you get caught up in a lie and those things never happened. I think he was young and he was inexperienced," she said of Smith at the time.
"I went back to [Smith and Ribeiro] in 2009 I and said, 'Please, I need you to clear my name'," she added. "I was waiting in my heart, thinking somebody would come to me one day and help me, but they didn't."
Hubert is expected to appear in the upcoming reunion, which airs on November 19 on HBO Max. In the behind-the-scenes snap, Smith can be seen engaging in an emotional conversation with Hubert.
The pair haven't shared a screen in 27 years.
