By Mallory Mattingly
2025 marks THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR’s 35th anniversary, and costars Alfonso Ribeiro and Will Smith reflected on their relationship and the impact they’ve had on one another through the years.
The show aired from 1990-1996, where Smith plays a “streetwise, poor young man from Philadelphia [who] is sent by his mother to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins in their Bel-Air mansion,” per IMDB.
While on the red carpet at the Disney Upfront 2025 event, Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks, revealed that he and Smith “talk every once in a while.”
“I talk to everyone when I can,” he told PEOPLE. “We’re all obviously doing many different things, but there’s a lot of love, and 35 years is pretty special.”
Smith previously said that his relationship with Ribeiro “transformed” his life.
“There’s been a couple of creative relationships I’ve had that have totally transformed my life,” Smith said on an episode of BLACK COMEDY IN AMERICA. “Where you meet somebody who understands you in a way that other people don’t understand you — and they’re able to understand you, then craft things for you to create and shine and explode. And Alfonso [Ribeiro] was that guy for sure.”
“When he came in for the audition, there was like no question, that’s the one,” Smith added. “Nobody commits as hard as Alf. We call it the ‘comedic limb.’ You know where you gon’ try this joke and you gon’ go out there with it and you gon’ risk it all. And one of his big things, why he would commit so hard with the lines, he says, ‘You commit so the writers can know it doesn’t work.'”
A few months after that episode aired, Alfonso Ribeiro joined THE JENNIFER HUDSON SHOW and shared how grateful he was for Smith’s remarks.
“It was wonderful to hear him say that. Will is my brother for life. And obviously our friendship and bond has now withstood the time of four or five decades. He’s absolutely the best,” Ribeiro told Hudson.
Related: FRESH PRINCE Star Alfonso Ribeiro Returns To DANCING WITH THE STARS As Co-Host
Ribeiro added he and Smith “created incredible magic that can’t be repeated” while on FRESH PRINCE, saying that it was “wonderful to hear Will give me some of my flowers.”
“Obviously, I give him flowers all the time. He is just so incredible. He is the most talented guy I know and the most dedicated guy I know. So it’s mutual love,” Alfonso Ribeiro added.
Though THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR is celebrating 35 years, the friendships forged on the show are holding strong.
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