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If you watched “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunion, you know that the highlight of the entire show was Will Smith and Janet Hubert finally coming to a resolution after 27 years of not speaking and being at odds with one another.
After the reunion, Will sat down with a therapist on “Red Table Talk,” to continue the conversation where he shared even more insight about his relationship with Hubert, how it mirrored his own dysfunctional family dynamic and the role he played in making her life and career so challenging over the past nearly three decades.
During the Red Table takeover, Smith also showed additional scenes from his conversation with Hubert and it really shed more light on everything that happened. (Because the internet wasn’t sure that Will had done enough, said enough or been apologetic enough during their initial meeting.)
Hubert recently sat down for an interview with KTLA, her first on-screen conversation since the reunion to discuss her feelings toward the Red Table Talk episode, getting to healing and more.
See what she had to say below.
Her reaction to the Red Table Talk
I came home and started to get a little bit nervous about the whole Red Table takeover. And when I saw it, and when I saw what Will did, I was absolutely so moved that I couldn’t watch it. I ended up turning it off and running away from the computer because generally I don’t show that kind of vulnerability. But to see him say what he said about his own pain, what he was going through and what I was going through. We were going through the same thing at different times. I was compelled to finally step back in front of the camera to do an interview. It’s time. It was time.
Accepting Will’s apology
Absolutely. Because all I ever wanted back was my reputation. That’s all I’ve been asking for for 27 years. I didn’t find out about the reunion until the day before I was to fly out and go to the reunion. They had been trying to get in touch with me, to no avail. So when I found out and asked whose idea it was, they said it was Will’s, I had to go. Because I wanted this to be over, desperately wanted this to be over.
Do you feel lighter?
It’s starting to. You can’t give me back 27 years of what was taken away because understand, the time when my son was a baby was taken away from me. All of my thirities, all of my forties, half of my sixties was taken away from me with being labeled a difficult b*tch. It’s hard to let go. But it’s starting. With the outpouring of love and support from people—my own projects, making my own way because there was no one to save me. There was Oprah, no Iyanla, no Dr. Phil. Only Will could do this. It was always he and I. And when I did hug him, I hugged him and he hugged me back for real because we both needed it so desperately from each other. I’m not used to showing that kind of vulnerability unless I’m acting because people have been so cruel. It feels good, it’s starting to feel good.
You can watch Hubert’s full interview with KTLA in the video below.
