“There’s a machine and it was designed to make him a superstar. And that machine was designed to steamroll over anybody who got in the way. I was simply a body…” –Janet Hubert
WARNING: It is going to be hard, even painful, for many people to fathom that Will Smith – an actor who has achieved the greatest level of fame, admiration, and success imaginable – may have at one time in his evolution, been a complete a-hole.
Now, nearly two decades since NBC’s ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ took the then 22-year-old rapper from his radio-friendly songs long enough to start his walk on the road to stardom, former “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” cast member, Janet Hubert-Whitten, aka “Vivian Banks” aka “The first Aunt Viv’” has broken her silence and authored the book “Perfection Is Not A Sitcom Mom.”
In an emotional exclusive interview with EUR’s Lee Bailey, Hubert (no longer Whitten) sounds more hurt than bitter as she paints a disturbing and unrecognizable picture of the superstar, and although she admits she doesn’t know him now, she speaks candidly about the man she knew then.
Without so much as a stutter, Hubert, who at times seems to be near tears, uses the one-hour, eight minutes and fifteen seconds telephone interview to reveal vivid details of her claims against Smith; which include verbal and mental abuse on the set, hypocrisy, excessive egoism, blatant resentment, the insensitive spewing of ‘your mama’s so black’ jokes, and ultimately, public slander – which Hubert says kept her from getting projects green-lighted and has banned her from work in the field she used to love.
“He had a lot of power. He had full power on that set! Maybe not the first season, but by the second, third season he was basically running it,” she states. The words escaping her mouth so fast—with no second-guessing herself–it’s as if she is in a time warp. “He knew what everybody was making because even on that V103 interview he said (mimics Smith using gangsta voice) ‘She made two hundred fifty thousand – a quarter million dollars a year. Now she ain’t makin’ nothin’!’”
The interview Hubert refers to was one of the first, she claims, Smith gave following her removal from the show “…I dug out the old tape…I call it … ‘Vicious V103’ in Atlanta. When it all went down he was in Atlanta, and he was with the DJ’s at V103 and he referred to me as a ‘Drive-by.’ When he had finished his session of lies and slander (gangsta voice) he said, ‘Well you know, I feel like this is like comic timing you know what I’m sayin’? It’s kind of like a drive-by; we should move on, you know what I’m sayin?”
With the show still in reruns, fans are constantly reminded of the abrupt departure of Janet Hubert’s “Aunt Viv” – and those who watched the show when it originally aired were arguably confused behind the networks’ decision to remain mute and just slip Daphne Maxwell-Reed into the role one day; Fine actor that she is, the difference between her “Aunt Viv” and Hubert’s was not a subtle one. But the decision to gloss over the cast change was, according to Hubert, Smith’s handy work: ‘We’re going to just act like nothing happened,’ she says, mimicking him. Now, with her new book due out in 2010, he’ll have to eat those words.
“Here’s what happened…Back when the re-negotiations came up, the network (NBC) offered me 10 weeks of work and they said ‘you cannot work anywhere else,” Hubert tells Lee Bailey, adding that the show was set to film 27 episodes [5 more than a usual TV contract] – yet cut her out of 15 of them. “So I was…not to work anywhere else – except 2 guest starring roles.”
As is the usual case with re-negotiations, there is a back and forth dance between the network and the talent. Hubert made it known to NBC that she would be unable to make a living with the offer they placed on the table, so she declined, expecting them to return with something better. You know? NEGOTIATE.
They never came back.
Want to know the rest of the story? Click here to find out what happened between Will and Janet!
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