The woman who played the original Aunt Viv on "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" says there's a damn good reason she wasn't at a recent reunion dinner with the rest of the Banks family -- she HATES Will Smith.
15 years after the show went off the air ... Janet Hubert tells TMZ, she's still upset with the way she was fired from the show ... and blames the whole thing on Smith himself.
"There will never be a reunion ... as I will never do anything with an a**hole like Will Smith," Hubert said. 
She adds, "He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn't know the word."
Hubert has said in the past she believes Smith is to blame for her departure in the middle of the show's run -- claiming he turned on her because she wouldn't kiss his butt.
But Smith refuted the claims after Hubert left the show in 1993 -- telling an Atlanta radio station Hubert simply had a bad attitude which played a major role in her demise.
Smith told the radio station, "[Hubert] said once, 'I've been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.' No matter what, to her I'm just the AntiChrist."
We called Smith for comment -- so far, no response.
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She sounds bitter. Eh. Which one went on to have an actual career? Not her. Anyway.. first! (At least the first comment that wasn't SPAM. LOL)
It's time to forgive and move on, she's held onto thi*****e far too long. She should be thankful that she had the opportunity otherwise, no one would even know her!
Funny she seems to be the only one that feels that way, since the rest of the cast reunited with him. And I watched that show religiously, this woman seemed like a raging b!tch. The second mom was 1000 times better.
Wow...she really knows how to hold a long grudge.omg!...get over it.
From what I read some time ago, Janet Hubert's contract wasn't renewed because she and her manager didn't accept the deal offered by the show's producers. The both of them didn't think it was a "good" deal for her and the show's producers simply "REPLACED" her. Ms. Hubert created her own "hardships" by not accepting that "Will Smith" was the "STAR" and not her. Truthfully, there was "nothing" so compelling about her performance which would have encouraged the vast majority of viewers to watch The Fresh Prince of Bel Air every week. The format of the show was a "COMEDY" geared towards "young" people -- not "middle aged" people but most age groups really liked Will Smith which says a "great deal" about his ability to "successfully" carry a starring role. This show was making Quincy Jones and his fellow producers a lot of money and only a "fool" would torpedo a "successful" format in favor of a "MUCH LESS" significant player who could "EASILY" be "REPLACED". Ms. Hubert simply didn't appreciate her "blessings" as a "WORKING" African American actress and has "needlessly" resented Will Smith's. What a waste!!!
From what I understand she took offense when Will told her, "Yo, homie smell you later."
Janet was truly the best mom & she deserves credit. Will should humble himself & apologize for becoming big-headed. Although he became a big name he still should never forget those that helped boost his career. If she believes this strongly about it, there has to be a ring of truth. Man up @ will. you're still sexy :-) with those big ole ears lol
I bet he is SUCH an ego maniac. I'm glad she is taking this stance. I don't like Will Smith either.
Actually, I've always felt that there was some truth in what she says, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree...you can kind of see it in his own children.
If you watch the old episodes of this show, you can see what a showboat Will is, always trying to get all the attention, and he still seems to be like that today. Ultimately his shana****ns got old and stale and that's why the show ended.
Also, this woman had a career doing Broadway long before she met Will Smith. Star of the show or not, I felt as if he should of had some respect for his elders, and it was so not cool to fire her when she was pregnant.
INNERESTING COMMENTS FROM IMDB FORUMS BACK SEVERAL YEARS AGO...
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According to all things I have come across the following is the answer..
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"Basically, Hubert-Whitten was fired from the show at the end of the season because she was pregnant, and since she had just had a baby on the show, there was no way her pregnancy could be worked in to the show."
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And...
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"Janet Hubert-Whitten, who played Vivian Banks from 1990-1993, was fired from the show because of her pregnancy. When she got pregnant, the writers had to to scramble to incorporate her pregnancy into the show. When the season was over, and Janet gave birth, she was released from her contract. Although the writers successfully managed to incorporate the pregnancy into the show, thus creating a new character, Janet essentially violated terms of her contract by becoming pregnant. Its sad, but true. Instead of giving her maternity leave, they simply replaced her with another actress, since the next season of the show had begun filming and they needed a replacement fast. Instead of having a rather bizarre swap-and-subsitution (like Roseanne with the Becky character), the producers opted to just let her go and replace her with Daphne Reid."
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In essence it had to do with a pregnancy, but which reason was really the case (pregnant after pregnancy story line, or wanting maternity leave) I am not sure. The two above are the commonly found answers.
Its also funny how he is doing everything he can to cram his friggin kids down our throats. They are talented or particularly cute. They act like celebrity and success should be a birth rite
