As TV moms go, few come as loved as Aunt Viv from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
For six seasons, the Banks matriarch delighted audiences with her class, wit, sass, and sophistication.
Interestingly, the character was portrayed by two different actresses – Janet Hubert first and Daphne Maxwell Reid who would step into the role from the show’s third season.
The story surrounding that change is drenched in drama, however this instalment of Retro Rewind celebrates the semantics of Aunt Viv, a character who, along Claire Huxtable, serves as one of the most progressive images of Black womanhood in television history.
By no means a coincidence, each of That Grape Juice‘s favourite Aunt Viv moments are played by the “originale” and they await after the jump…
Randomness: Did you know the “new” Aunt Viv, Daphne Maxwell Reid, is married to Tim Reid who played ‘Sister Sister’ patriarch Ray?
YASSSSS Aunt Viv! <3 you guys should post a link for the one where she fills in for their History teacher at school too
I saw Janet Hubert’s Life After profile. She was a hot mess. Perhaps w/o realizing it, she admitted she was a total beeotch to work with AND admitted that Fresh Prince was the easiest gig she ever had. She’s still bitter after all these years, but really, she got herself fired from the show.
awww, this is so sweet of you guys to bring this back,i loved this woman so much.
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TGJ, ya’ll are on point today 😉 Fresh Prince and The Cosby Show showed black mothers as poised, confident, intelligent, classy, beautiful, career driven and family oriented…and there wasn’t anything fake or phony about either of them…if you tried Mrs. Banks or Mrs. Huxtable, the homegirl would come right on out lol…so many memorable moments…my favorite would have to be when Ashley was being bullied, and the parents of the bully came over to the Banks residence…lawd, too funny 😉
How about Janet GIVING IT on that dance episode?! That body was SIIIICKENING!
Wow!! Skin bleaching and plastic surgery changed her whole face honey!!