“Family Matters” actors Jo Marie Payton and Reginald VelJohnson are beyond ready to let old tensions between them and the show’s star, Jaleel White, be bygones. Payton and VelJohnson, who played husband and wife Harriette and Carl Winslow, and Kellie Williams, who played their Laura, attended 90s Con today (Sept. 16) in Tampa, Florida.
The veteran actors, along with White, have been vocal in the past about the growing pains they endured when his guest role as Steve Urkel was upgraded to a series regular on the show in 1989, during their first season. He remained a staple on the sitcom through its final season in 1998. In his 2021 “Uncensored” chat for TV One, White said he was not warmly welcomed and that he faced criticism from his colleagues when his character was made to wear a dress for comedy’s sake.
Now, more than two decades after “Family Matters” was a ratings draw for television’s primetime lineup, Payton says she harbors no hard feelings toward her former co-star. “Hate is not a part of anything you do. I will always love him,” she told People.
VelJohnson chimed in, “He had a lot to deal with because we were already established as a family, but he had to get into the group and introduce himself. We love him. We’re sorry he’s not here, but he’s a special person.”
Last year, Payton made an alarming claim about White’s aggressive temperament during the filming of season 9’s “Original Gangsta Dawg” episode. In it, the actor played Urkel’s gangster cousin, Cornelius, who sought refuge from a rival by hiding in the Winslow family home. Payton alleged that her co-star “actually wanted to physically fight me” when she objected to unspecified aspects of the shoot.
“I said we can’t do that. Standards and practices will not let that pass; it’s not gonna happen. He wanted to do it anyway… He was so mad, he started kicking and screaming and stuff,” she told “Entertainment Tonight.” “He said something about, ‘She must want to melee.’ I said, ‘What’s a melee?’ He said, ‘a fight.’ I turned around. If he wanna fight, I would. Darius [McCrary] grabbed me. I was gonna whip his behind.” She would go on to give him grace, saying he was just a kid and that adults who allowed his troubling behaviors to go unchecked also contributed to their on-set strife.
