Cassandra Freeman's Pregnancy Inspired the Return of the Original Aunt Viv in Bel-Air's Finale: 'It Brought Back The Weirdest Feelings'

Believe it or not, Cassandra Freeman didn’t jump at the opportunity to play Vivian Banks in Bel-Air.

As she told SheKnows, it took some convincing to join the cast of the dramatic reimagining of the iconic TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from Peacock. Yet in the four seasons she’s portrayed the mother of three, she’s given her character a fullness that complements and expands the original played initially by Janet Hubert and then Daphne Maxwell Reid.

Vivian has a lot on her plate. She’s a mom to grown daughter Hilary (Coco Jones), high school student Carlton (Olly Sholotan), and younger daughter Ashley (Akira Akbar) and is also helping to raise her sister Vy’s (April Parker Jones) son Will (Jabari Banks) with her uber successful legal eagle hubby Philip Banks (Adrian Holmes)—Uncle Phil as he’s better known,

In addition to her many challenges in modern-day parenting that include dealing with her son’s drug addiction and mental health challenges, the series also zoomed in on her personal fulfillment outside of her role as a mother, aunt, and wife. Instead of simply alluding to Vivian pushing her art career to the side to nurture her family and support her ambitious husband, the challenges of resuming her career and the demands of her personal and professional life became key storylines.

For the fourth and final season, she learned she was pregnant just as she and her husband were nearing the parenting finish line with their second child and nephew heading to college and the third one in high school. Unlike the original, Bel-Air delved into what a later-in-life or so-called “geriatric” pregnancy entailed in general and specifically in the face of Black maternal healthcare challenges and opened the door for Freeman to share the screen with Hubert, the original Aunt Viv, playing her doula. And Freeman reflects on it all in an exclusive conversation with SheKnows.

SheKnows: What were your thoughts when you got this role to play Aunt Viv in a re-imagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Cassandra Freeman: I almost didn’t even audition for this role. My people had to convince me three times. It’s like The Alchemist or something. It took the third time. They’re like, “throw anything on tape.” And then when I finally got the role, it just seemed unbelievable. I don’t think it really lands because I know what the role means to me, just the Aunt Viv character in general. So to think that there was even an opportunity to pass on the baton and it would be given to me, it’s just humbling.

SK: So then, what did the Aunt Viv role mean to you?

Freeman: To me, she’s like an aspirational character. She represents the heart of the best of what warmth, creativity, and strength look like.

When I was a younger kid, I grew up in real-time watching [The Fresh Prince of Bel Air] when it was on TV, and I looked up to Aunt Viv. But also, I felt Aunt Viv was the representation of the women in my family. I do have Aunt Vivs in my family.

I have an English teacher, Mrs. Rouse, from my old high school, Douglas Anderson [School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida]. She is her. I feel like she is that feeling of how Oprah Winfrey feels about Maya Angelou. She is that woman who you just know will always be there for inspiration and guidance.

SK: Tell us about sharing space with Janet Hubert, the original Aunt Viv.

Freeman: I bumped into Janet years ago, and the world sort of stopped. It’s like on my Instagram in real time. Jimmy [Akingbola, who plays Geoffrey] and Adrian [Holmes, who plays Philip Banks] were there, and they took out their cameras, and it was like the sea parted. And she, no lie, was so gracious. And she was like, “Cassie, this is your role. It’s a whole other world. Like, you’re so wonderful.” Since then, every year, I would ask the producers ‘Have we reached out to Janet? Is there a character in this world that would be great for Janet?’

And to see that she said yes and she came was like the biggest affirmative. It just felt like affirming what we’ve created. It also affirmed that this show is worthy enough for her to come on to. So, it meant a lot to me, and to act with her was like a lesson in acting. I was so in awe that she was actually there, all I could do was surrender second by second.

SK: Her role is so important because we’re also bringing awareness to not just a woman having a pregnancy later in life, but Black maternal health.

Freeman: Well, you know, 90% of all of that was based on my personal experience when I was pregnant with my son. It was surprisingly emotional to revisit, and I sort of had phantom pains of being pregnant. Wearing that pregnancy belly brought back the weirdest feelings. And then I thought, “Cassie, it’s in your mind.”

And the whole geriatric pregnancy thing was really interesting because I remember that so heavily. When I was first pregnant with my son, the first doctors I went to just to get the “Yes, you definitely are pregnant.” They were like, “So do you want an abortion?” And I was like, “No, I’m happy. I just want to make sure I have a good pregnancy.” They’re like, “Yeah, you’re definitely pregnant, but you sure you don’t want an abortion?” I got so scared. Why are we asking me that? I’m excited. Y’all are stealing my moment right now. So then that was the nurse, the nurse leaves, the doctor comes in, and she said, “So it looks like you don’t want an abortion.” I was like, “Where am I right now?”

We didn’t put that part of it into the story. Instead, we jumped to the part when I finally found a great doctor, and she was so warm about it. And she was like, “This is going to be a great pregnancy for you.” And even the [original] Aunt Viv [Janet Hubert] character, that’s a real character in my life. I went out of my way to find a doula. Mine was a postpartum doula in this story for dramatic reasons. We made her part of the birthing doula process, but I really did find someone who was in her heritage to help me cross over into becoming a mother. It was like a spiritual experience.

The way Morgan Cooper [who created Bel-Air and directed the final episode] captured this breaking through the other [realm] is really something that happened to me. The last moment before I pushed my son through, I didn’t think I could do it. And I closed my eyes, and it was like I was transported to another world. And that other world was filled with all these women who were from my husband’s family and my family, I guess, saying “Yes, yes.” And I was just like, “No, no,” but one push, my son was born.

And what do you want the audience to take away from this experience of Bel-Air?

It sounds corny, but we are living in very interesting times, and I think I hope people leave with the greatest wealth you can have is to have a family that loves you, that lives in forgiveness, reconciliation, and being open enough to really believe that charity starts at home.

This whole show is about a family who opens up their entire life to extended family, and the many people I’ve met on this journey who have had this sort of life. It means a lot to them to see it. And that’s my life, too.

My life is what it is because I have amazing aunts and uncles and cousins who constantly pick me up off the ground, put the money in my pocket, point to the star, and say, “No, go in that direction.” So for me to play this character is really sort of a dedication to all those people who never gave up on me and who loved me every step of the way, though there was no proof that there was a space for me in this industry.

All four seasons of Bel-Air are streaming on Peacock.