An EPIC Real Life Tale of Conflict Resolution

I grew up with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Fumbling my way through the awkwardness that was grade school. All while living la vida loca in my own coming of age story. This series is iconic for a number of reasons and over the years we’ve enjoyed the laughter, the drama, and insights that it gave to us season after season.

During The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air years, there was only one dark cloud hanging over the show that originally left fans stunned. That was the replacement of Aunt Vivian played by Janet Hubert. Not only was she replaced… Fans all over, in particular in the Black community cried colorism as Aunt Viv was not only (supposedly) fired from the show but she was replaced with light-skinned Aunt Viv played by Daphne Maxwell Reid. At the time very little was known about why Janet left the show. Once youtube was a thing we started hearing her side of the story. Ms. Hubert wasted no time letting the world know about how she had been wronged by Will Smith.

While Will Smith has spoken very little publicly about the feud Janet gave fans a lot to think about. In her feelings she sometimes came across as bitter and still very angry about what had taken place. Recently HBO Max dropped a 30-year reunion special and the trailer hinted that Janet would be on it along with Daphne. Will admitted during the special that you couldn’t celebrate 30 years without the original Aunt Vivian Janet and it was official. A conversation about the freshest elephant in the room was going to happen in 2020.

I had a chance to watch the reunion special HBO. It was worth it sharing in those special memories. Seeing both Will and Janet (Aunt Vivian) grow beyond their feud was definitely icing on the cake. In addition to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion, there is a whole Red Table Talk about conflict resolution. Check it out now!