Will Smith on ending Janet Hubert feud: My actions were ‘flawed and hurtful’

Will Smith reflected on quashing his longtime beef with former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-star Janet Hubert after not speaking to each other for nearly 27 years. On Thursday, Smith, 52,

Will Smith reflected on quashing his longtime beef with former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-star Janet Hubert after not speaking to each other for nearly 27 years.

On Thursday, Smith, 52, and 64-year-old Hubert, who played the Aunt Viv for three seasons on the sitcom, apologized for their past actions against each other during the show’s reunion special on HBO Max.

Smith said that his feud with Hubert was “something that has really troubled me for nearly 30 years” in a clip obtained by People of Friday’s episode of his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook show “Red Table Talk.”

“My painful situation was around the ‘Fresh Prince.’ I had a feud, a war of words that I’d been in with Janet that I never thought would get resolved,” he told psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula, adding of the reunion, “I really couldn’t see myself celebrating without really dealing with this.”

In another clip obtained by Hollywood Life, Smith admitted, “I’m not arrogant enough to think that my actions and behavior were perfect. My actions and behavior were flawed and hurtful.”

Hurbert had shared for the first time with Smith that she was going through personal struggles in her life including having a new baby with an “abusive” husband who was unemployed. And when she stopped being her usual happy self around her castmates, she was offered a bad contract that cut her role and pay which she of course had to refuse.

“I didn’t know that, when I look back now it’s obvious that you were having a hard time and I felt like you hated me. I could not do a 30-year celebration of this show and not celebrate you, celebrate your contribution to the show, celebrate your contribution to my life,” Smith told her.

He added, “The person I want to be is someone that protects you, not someone who unleashes dogs on you,”

She responded, “I appreciate that,” and the two exchanged a teary-eyed hug.

Hubert had said several negative things about Smith in the past, blasting him as egotistical in her 2009 memoir “Perfection Is Not a Sitcom Mom” and called the A-list actor an “a–hole” in a 2011 interview with TMZ.

She said she was sorry for blasting him “to pieces,” and Smith accepted, apologizing to her once again.