BlackVoices History Quest: Augusta, Georgia
Pastor Poised To Be First Black To Lead Southern Baptists
In her alternately plaintive and scathing memoir, actress Janet Hubert, known as Vivian Banks on the popular 90's sitcom 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' strikes back at former colleagues whom she says denigrated her name and hurt her career.
In 'Perfection Is Not A Sitcom Mom,' Hubert addresses her departure from the show in 1993 and the toll it took on her personal and emotional life. She talks exclusively to BV on Books about what motivated her to write the book and what she's up to today:
Black Voices: What motivated you to write your memoir?
Janet Hubert: I decided to publish my memoir because I saw this YouTube rant that Alfonso Ribeiro [Carlton] had done about me. He said I was crazy and that I was fired and that I was out of my mind. No one ever defends black women, so I had to do it myself. I wrote it for clarity, to clear my clear my name. I got tired of answering questions about why I left. I answer every single question. In the book, I also talk about how words can kill. You don't take someone's life and just step on it, and you don't take my family's name and destroy it.
BV: What are the most surprising things readers will learn?
JH: My departure was planned for a long time...There will never be a reunion of the 'Fresh Prince.' Will Smith and Alfonso destroyed a 20-year-career with untruths. I got slammed. Will apologized later in an 'Essence Magazine' article, but it still lingers. It's still there...
BV: What have you been up to?
JH: I live on the East Coast. I love the East Coast because there is energy, something else other than entertainment. On the West Coast, everyone is waiting to be discovered. I've been here now for 11 years. My son Elijah is 16. He'll be in college next year.
I've created a children's book series called 'JG & the BC Kids.' It's about a little boy who solves a complicated mathematical equation that opens his imagination and out comes a teacher who takes him and his friends on an adventure.
BV: What's next on the horizon?
JH: I'm quite content. I'm getting my son off to college. I'm remarried and living peacefully. I've written a pilot for a dramady. I'm doing some pitches and I'm going to start [filming] soon...
Comments: (269)
Add a comment
By: Kim on 12/31/2009 9:41PM
Don't worry Janet. They will get theirs in the end. Keep on keeping on.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Hattie Irving on 1/05/2010 12:31PM
Janet you can't live in the past, now you must get over this. you did not need to write a book, stop defending your actions. the proof is in the pudding
Report This
By: WP on 1/05/2010 3:07PM
"Don't worry Janet. They will get theirs in the end. Keep on keeping on."
Kim are you serious? What an idiot!!! Let's see, Will Smith has been EXTREMELY successful in his career, as have others. All I see is another cry baby DN that is compelled to blame someone else for their own inadiquasies(sp). Grow up, it's the real world. Accept that you just weren't that good and move on. Typical of too many.....people of c@!@(. GROW UP!!!!!!!
Report This
By: Kim on 1/05/2010 7:37PM
Like I said, people will get theirs in the end. It does not matter how they are doing today. They will reap what they sew.
Report This
By: sssc on 1/07/2010 7:14PM
I'm starting a Magazine called "White Voice." Will I be viewed as racist?
Report This
By: myjeanababy on 1/05/2010 6:23AM
Oh stop whinning! You must be hatin on them right about now! Will is living blissfully with Jada and the kids; sure he is not thinking about you! It is time to move on. It sounds like you r the one keeping it going. You really should let those silly little U tube blogs go unanswered. It takes two to fight!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: CC on 1/05/2010 9:07AM
Maybe you are not old enough to know that words and comments can have longlasting effects, for good or bad. I applaud this lady's strength, tenacity and beauty in not letting this situation lie with her name attached to a dangerous precedent. "If I step on you, then I may rise in Hollywood, or my job, or my family". You don't have to step on other people to be successful or accepted by those who really count. And you don't have to hate your own race,especially Black women. If you hate or denegrate the source, then you really hate and denegrate yourself.
Report This
By: Beatrice Woodward on 1/05/2010 1:14PM
myjeanababy,
You are so right - Janet needs to Get Over It! No one wants to here about it anymore. The show was not about her anyway, she just played the mom-not the star of the show. Obviously, the show did not need her; it went on without her, no one cared then and we don’t care now. Janet! You were not missed-Get a Life and MOVE ON.
Report This
By: King David on 1/05/2010 1:31PM
You are apparently SOOOO RIGHT!!! It seems that THOSE WITH TALENT went on to continue their career and THOSE WHO HAD NONE WRITE BOOKS so they can glean some money from those foolish enough to buy them. I'm ambivolent about Will Smith so I'm not defending him, other than realizing that HE HAS TALENT, otherwise I don't care for some of his politics. Regardless, the point is made.
Report This
By: YeahYeah on 1/07/2010 3:02PM
Hating...? How do you know what goes on behind closed doors? How do you know that Will is living "blissfully" with Jada...?
Will apologized did you NOT read the Essence article? No, you didn't!
She's Not hating she's being interviewed and she answering questions HONESTLY...
You're Hatin'! And ridiculous!
Shame on you!!!
Report This