Jaleel White didn’t shy away from mentioning his Family Matters costars in his memoir.
Family Matters, which aired from 1989 to 1998, was a spinoff of the Perfect Strangers that followed a middle-class Black family living in Chicago. The hit sitcom starred Reginald VelJohnson, Jo Marie Payton, Darius McCrary, Kellie Williams, Jaimee Foxworth, Bryton McClure and Michelle Thomas.
White joined Family Matters halfway through the first season as the Winslows’ nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel. The role was only meant to last one episode but Steve became a breakout character that paved the way for White to join the main cast.
“My performance was so well received during that initial episode that they began writing me into the next episode,” White recalled in his memoir, Growing Up Urkel, which was released on Tuesday, November 19. “They even reshot new teasers for the season that featured me prominently, as if l’d been an original cast member all along.”
Family Matters became the second-longest-running live action sitcom with a predominantly Black cast behind The Jeffersons. The success caused the cast to rise to stardom but the experience wasn’t without its obstacles.
In his book, out Tuesday, November 19, White offered a candid glimpse into his experience as a child star on the set of Family Matters. Despite pulling back the curtain on the highs — and lows — of playing Steve, White didn’t want the entire memoir to be about the drama.
“I never felt any need for any get back [at my costars]. First of all, I live my life to do better. That’s the truth. I have a 15-year-old daughter. If I put out a book, I want her to be proud of it,” White exclusively told Us Weekly. “I also write things to try to be timeless. So addressing anyone’s personal accusations, I feel makes the book not nearly the literary work that I wanted it to be.”
White told Us that his relationships with his former costars vary. He noted that he has “basic relationships” with some of his cast members while others have continued to be a part of his life.
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations about Family Matters — and White’s insight to Us about the takeaways:
The Difference Between the Adult Actors and the Children
“There was a clear division — even when we were working — there were the adults and there were the kids. And even the [crew] would say, ‘Hey, go get the kids from school,’” White recalled during an interview with Us. “So no matter what my standing was on the show — as far as celebrity was concerned on that set — I was still one of the kids.”
As White’s star rose, there was a bit of a divide.
“By workload, I was the leading man on Family Matters, but I was never number one on the call sheet,” White wrote. “If my agent had ever attempted to reorder our cast introductions to reflect our position on the show more accurately, it would have fractured too many egos.”
The Toll of Playing Steve
After playing Steve for nine seasons, White was “physically exhausted” and would often develop bruises from the continuous physical comedy. White found it “physically painful” to maintain Steve’s high-pitched voice so network executives made some chances including him no longer wearing suspenders that were previously synonymous with his character.
“If I worked out, I would have cut off at least two to three years off the show. Being tall and wiry was one thing-being almost six feet tall and beefed-up was another,” he recalled. “When you think of it financially because the real money didn’t come in until the final seasons of the show, if I decided to let myself fill in, I would have cost myself something like six or seven million dollars in salary.”
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Questionable ‘Family Matters’ Scenes
In the book, White reexamined a season 2 episode where his character was kissed by an older woman at a casino. According to White, the scene was his first kiss IRL — and the unnamed actress took the kiss farther than what was originally discussed in rehearsals.
Those Reginald VelJohnson Mentions
VelJohnson remained on the show for the series’ run, but when his costars heard that Miller allegedly told VelJohnson, “‘Now, Reginald. if you’re not happy here…’” they would often repeat the phrase back to him and joke about the alleged tension.
Michelle Thomas’ Death
Thomas joined Family Matters as a love interest for Steve in 1993 and she remained on the show until the final season. She was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 1997, which limited Thomas’ screen time before she died at age 30 one year later.
“When Family Matters went off the air, Michelle Thomas found herself hurled into a game of video-vixen offers and unethical casting practices, and she was perceived to be not believably edgy enough for a lot of roles,” White wrote in his book. “To avoid running into anyone from show business, she waited tables for a stint in far-out Palmdale, California. My mother, Gail, kept her secret, even from me, until her dying day.”
Falling Out With Kellie Williams
Growing Up Urkel highlighted White’s bond with Williams, who played Laura a.k.a the object of Steve’s affection and his eventual wife on the show. The pair briefly had a falling out while filming season 5, which got so bad they “stopped speaking altogether.” White revealed that despite having feelings for each other, a misunderstanding “caused permanent discord” between the costars.
After going out of their way to avoid eye contact while filming, White and Williams reconciled during a scene break. White cited that experience as the reason he “vowed never again to catch feelings for an actress” he was working with on a project.
“Even the time that we had on the set and we were not getting along so great, I was doing two things in describing that. I was showing some adolescent immaturity and some reality about getting along with your costars,” White explained to Us about that passage in his book. “But at the same time, I was also teaching you a trick because we’re not the only actors who’ve done that. Some pretty famous shows have had actors who have looked to the side of each other’s head and didn’t even look at each other. And you can’t tell at home.”
White wanted to provide some interesting behind-the-scenes insight for readers, adding, “There was a part of me that wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain of television production nuances, the schedules, the demands, the things that feel unfair and the things that feel fair. Then there was a part of me that also just wanted to write something coming of age and gave you all the feels of the ’90s.”
His Friendship With Darius McCreary and Kellie Williams Now
White’s costar and offscreen friend McCreary, who played Eddie, made appearances throughout different parts of the book. The author told Us that although “nobody got a chance to read” the book before it was published, he did reach out to certain costars ahead of time.
“I definitely had extensive dialogue with Kellie Williams and Darius McCreary. The general public is always going to see Steve, Carl and Laura as the triumvirate. For me, I’m always going to see me, Kellie and Darius as the triumvirate that was our childhood,” White shared with Us. “We were very much linked to each other in adolescence and in our puberty years. So I don’t really need to talk to anybody beyond those two and Bryton McClure.”
White included stories about Williams leaving Hollywood in the book. “Sitting at my computer writing [that chapter], I had to call her and I had to talk to her,” White told Us. “And we actually do keep in touch. She lives in Maryland, but she’s made a very noticeable decision to depart from the business on a regular basis. That’s very important to say. Not entirely, but just on a regular basis. And I wanted to be respectful of her.”
Reassessing His Past Experiences With Jo Marie Payton
As Family Matters fans know, Payton, who played Harriette, was replaced with Judyann Elder for the remainder of the show’s final season after an alleged near altercation with White. The actress has since publicly spoken about how she had no ill feelings toward White because he was just a child at the time. In the book, White didn’t address the feud head-on, but wrote about his costars hinting he was “difficult” in press interviews.
“Am I difficult to work with? I wondered for the first time. They’ve said publicly that I was spoiled. But was I really?” he wrote. “I think we were all affected by certain privileges and autonomies so I try to refrain from revisionist history or being the pot to call the kettle black.”
Elsewhere in the book, White alleged that Payton would often be late for table readings. There was a specific time when Payton allegedly told her costars she was tardy because her rearview mirror fell off her car so she drove back home to get her other Mercedes.
“Whenever I hear in interviews, thirty years after the fact, the different ways in which I might have been a difficult costar, it’s safe to say I never held up any table readings because I had to go back home and get my other Mercedes,” White quipped in his memoir.
His Feud With Jaimee Foxworth
Another tense relationship on the set of Family Matters was between White and Jaimee Foxworth, who played Judy before the character was retconned from the show.
In the book, White claimed that Foxworth’s mother — and some of the other parents — weren’t happy that he was receiving so much screen time. In response, there were alleged attempts to exclude White from activities with the original three children from the show such as the communal classroom.
White speculated that Foxworth’s mother felt he was taking lines of dialogue away from her daughter, which he heavily disagreed with.
“If Jaime were as funny in the role of Judy Winslow as she was in our studio classroom, she would have never left the show. It has always amazed me how certain actors’ natural timing and humor will simply disappear the moment a director yells ‘Action!’ And that was Jaimee Foxworth,” he wrote. “The Judy Winslow character appeared in 95 episodes out of a total 215. In four seasons on the show, until 1993, Judy Winslow was never given a single storyline.”
White wrote that Foxworth’s poor grades eventually led to her being fired from the show because the studio teacher wouldn’t risk his license if she failed every subject. (He also claimed that her mother did not prioritize her education.) He continued by speculating that Foxworth would agree that “seeds of her distaste for me were planted” by adults around them at the time.
According to White, he later crossed paths with Foxworth at his 30th birthday party. He expressed regret at not reaching out later to address their past issues.
“I’m a person who believes in closure and healing in the proper setting and when it’s mutually beneficial. But her presence at my party that night felt like a photo op I managed to dodge, and I wanted no part,” he wrote. “If Jaime ever wanted to share her story with me, or exchange certain apologies, I’d be down to listen sincerely. But not as a reunion on anyone’s podcast for a fast buck or viral moment.”
That Infamous Interview About Playing Steve
White was asked in a 1995 interview about what the end of Family Matters meant for Steve. He infamously replied, “‘If you ever see me do that character again, take me out and put a bullet in my head and put me out of my misery.’” He admitted in his memoir that he felt disillusioned by the role at that point but regretted seeming “ungrateful” to the show and character that helped him rise to stardom.
Saying Goodbye to the Show
In a passage from Growing Up Urkel, White revealed that the cast “did not celebrate” or “head out for a night on the town” after filming the series finale of Family Matters, adding, “I don’t recall we did much after that tearful final curtain all beyond lingering to take it all in as the crew members would strike the set for the last time.”
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A ‘Family Matters’ Reboot
The memoir started out with White’s revelation that there were plans in 2016 to do a Family Matters reboot. He turned it down because the script didn’t reflect how much time had passed since the original sitcom was on the air. White also wanted to be involved behind the scenes with the voice of the show, which wasn’t well-received internally.
According to White, the planned reboot followed Steve and Laura still married and with a kid named Steve Urkel Jr. The plan was to have Carl and Harriette “stop by from time to time” but the series would largely hinge around Steve, Laura and their son.
Since the idea felt tired to White, he instead pitched a Young Sheldon-type show showing his experience getting the role of Steve. The concept didn’t materialize — and neither did the Family Matters reboot — but White isn’t ruling out a return in some capacity in the future.
“If the opportunity presents itself, it’ll present,” White told Us. “And I’d never turn my back on an opportunity that feels genuine. Never.”
Growing Up Urkel is out now.
