Do you know why Janet Hubert left The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? The actress portrayed the role of Vivian Banks in the mentioned sitcom, which premiered back in 1990. More than three decades have passed. Still, some people don’t know the reason behind Janet Hubert’s exit after Season 3. Now, with its return for the reunion, this question has been raised again.
No. Aunt Vivian’s character didn’t there right then. Instead, Daphne Maxwell replaced her. But this was not meant to happen. Why did Janet Hubert fail to continue with the show? Before getting into all of that, let’s have a look at Janet’s prominence and also the sitcom.
Starting from the basics, Janet Louise Hubert is a versatile actress. Some of her notable works include- No Letting Go, Reasonable Doubts, The Job, One Life to Live, If Loving You Is Wrong, Single Black Female, etc. Have you not watched Janet Hubert’s 2022 film, Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story? She played Aunt Duke incredibly.
Talking about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air focuses on Will Smith. His Philadelphia neighborhood is very harsh and bad. Because of that, his mom sends him to his rich uncle and aunt in Bel-Air. The latter is Aunt Vivian, whom we know as Janet Hubert.
What happens next? To know that, you have to watch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Where? It’s available on Netflix. Coming back to Janet Hubert leaving The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it was very much disappointing to people. But it seems like the actress had her reasons. What were they? If you are looking for the reason behind Janet Hubert’s early departure from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, here is what we know.
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Janet Hubert Left The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air After Season 3: Here Is Why
The major reason why Janet Hubert left The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was her pregnancy. Yes, you read it right. While she was filming Season 3 of the sitcom, Janet got pregnant.
Many actresses continue with their work, shooting for long hours in the initial period of their pregnancies. But why did Janet Hubert not continue further? On this note, she said that her life at home was “not good at all.” And because of that, she was unable to laugh, joke or smile. Why? Janet addressed her marriage to be “very abusive.”
Janet was offered a bad deal. While rejecting it, she earned a label of “difficult to work with.” That eventually made her almost impossible to get quality work. It was indeed a bad phase. At the time she left, this specific reason was not made public. Instead, Janet was said to get fired from The Fresh Prince.
Not to forget to mention, Janet Hubert was also a bit hurt by the fact that her contract was not renegotiated but got replaced by another actress. In addition to this, Janet also shared that she was not at all unprofessional on the set. She simply stopped talking to everyone as it was quite a difficult time for her. Janet was unable to trust anyone.
Janet reportedly claimed that it was Will Smith who “banished” her from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. We wonder why problems were working together despite being so good. Do you know what the worst part was? Both her family and Hollywood disowned her. Her departure from the sitcom gave her a similar feeling and that was pretty harsh.
After getting disappointed and hurt, Janet said, “It’s hard enough being a dark-skinned Black woman in this business.” In other words, we may say that Janet Hubert’s pregnancy was the significant reason, as it violated her contract with NBC.
As mentioned already about the bad phase, having no “creative differences” but an ugly and upsetting departure, Janet Hubert struggled a lot. Now, just look at her! Being a Black woman, she is simply ruling it. Don’t you think so?
Best Wishes to Janet Hubert for the upcoming days of her life. We believe that nothing and no one can stop her from being herself. Sending Janet loads of love!
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