Steve Urkel actor Jaleel White once 'wanted to physically fight' 'Family Matters' costar JoMarie Payton on set, she says

• JoMarie Payton says costar Jaleel White "wanted to physically fight" her on the set of "Family Matters."
• Payton said the two got into an altercation during the filming of the show's ninth season.

JoMarie Payton recently revealed that her former "Family Matters" costar Jaleel White, who played the memorable Steve Urkel, once "wanted to physically fight" her on set while filming the ninth season of the hit 90s series.

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actress, best known for her role as matriarch Harriette Winslow on the ABC sitcom, revealed that things weren't always family-friendly on the set with White.

"There was one time he actually wanted to physically fight me," Payton recalled, noting the incident happened while filming an episode titled "Original Gangsta Dawg," where White played his onscreen gangster cousin, OGD.

Payton added that during one scene she told White, "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 continued: "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. [Costar] Darius [McCrary] grabbed me. I was gonna whip his behind."

Payton said that reflecting on the incident today, she attributes White's behavior to him being a "kid" at the time.

"I give some of those adults credit too," she said. "Letting him run wild and do whatever he wanted to do, thinking he can say what he wants to say, you know, and hurt people's feelings and all that."

Still, the actress said she still keeps in touch with some of the cast and doesn't hold on to the past.

"I did love all of my 'Family Matters' crew," she said. "I've kept in touch with a lot of them, I see them on other shows... I love them all. We had incredible writers, I love them, and they know who my issue was with. It wasn't with the entirety of them."

Payton is now focused on reprising another iconic role as Suga Mama Proud on the Disney+ revival series "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder," now streaming on Disney+.