Loretta Devine Speaks Out On Her Termination from The Cast Of ‘A Different World!’
YourBlackWorld.net, By Ryan Steal, Posted January 25th 2022
Lisa Bonet, Marisa Tomei, and Loretta Devine starred in season one of A Different World, which premiered in September 1987. When the show progressed into its second season, a few cast members were visibly absent. Loretta Devine, who only featured on the show for one season, discusses her abrupt departure after the first season.
As it turns out, the explanation offered to the Washington Post in 1988 may not have been entirely accurate. In 2021, much of the show’s cast and crew met with Vanity Fair to discuss their experiences.
Devine was reportedly fired from her position, according to the Emmy Award-winning actress. She told the publication that she arrived at work one day to find her on-set residence had been taken away. “It was just a door,” she explained, suggesting that “Stevie Rallen” would not be returning to the show.
Loretta Devine was “devastated” by the termination, saying, “I thought everything was just over.” Mary Alice, a Tony Award-winning actress, took her place as “Leticia ‘Lettie’ Bostic.”
Marisa Tomei, an Oscar winner, initially featured on the soap opera As The World Turns before being cast in A Different World as “Maggie Lauten,” one of the show’s key protagonists. She was a roommate of “Jaleesa” and “Denise Huxtable,” played by Lisa Bonet, and was one of Hillman College’s first white students.
Season two, on the other hand, saw the show’s creators moving in a new cultural direction, one that didn’t include Tomei’s role. Dawnn Lewis told Vanity Fair that they had a great experience working together and that she was sad to see her go. In 2019, Tomei told HipHollywood about some of her experiences, calling it “one of the most fun times of my life.”
Lisa Bonet, who had previously been on The Cosby Show, was also absent from the second season due to her pregnancy with her then-husband, Lenny Kravitz. Because A Different World was a spin-off of The Cosby Show, it was based on her role, and her departure caused numerous changes after Bill Cosby supposedly fired her due to her pregnancy.
