The star of “Phat Girls” Mo’Nique has not buried anything under the hatchet. Although she is willing to put the past behind her it’s all up to her fellow actors Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey.
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This ongoing feud between Mo’Nique, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey has lasted for well over a decade and it’s all because Mo’Nique vehemently refused to promote the 2009 film “Precious” at Cannes Film Festival for free.
The film in question won two Academy Awards of which Mo’unique took home one of the awards for Best Supporting Actress in the film.
Mo’Nique — Mo’Nique’s Feud With Tyler Perry
Last year, Mo’Nique made an appearance at “Turnt Out with TS Madison,” and told Madison her reason for standing her ground and refusing to promote “Precious.”
After making it clear to the team behind the ” Precious” campaign, Perry reached out. Mo’Nique told Madison that before then she has already made up her mind not to make Hollywood her priority, before going on to detail what she told Perry.
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“What I was not going to do was to make Hollywood the priority,” she continued, “… I said [to Perry] I’m not in the business of working for free. So we had a mutual agreement. No problem. We got up, we hugged, everything was good.”
“When they knew that I was not going to be the actress or be the one that say, ‘Because it’s them, I gotta do it.’ No. I don’t care who it is … Now comes the blackball.” Mo’Nique said that after her flat refusal, she began hearing things like “difficult” and “hard to work with.”
The 55-year-old comedian told Madison that Perry later reached out to her on the phone with the story of his remorse over how he treated her and was willing to publicly apologize. Unbeknownst to Perry, Mo’Nique had their discussion recorded.
The actress shared the audio to stars like Kevin Hart, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. When Perry caught wind of it, he refused to contact Mo’Nique. When he finally chose to, he demanded that Mo’Nique’s husband/manager shouldn’t get involved and she had to apologize to him and Oprah.
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“Now that was recent,” Mo’Nique said. “So, as I sit here with you, and you say, ‘Wait a minute. I heard that man say he was wrong and was going to apologize.’ Well that’s turned into, ‘I’ll meet with you—not with your husband—and now you have to apologize to me.’ How does that happen?”
Mo’Nique — Mo’Nique’s Feud With Oprah Winfrey
Mo’Nique also told Madison that when Winfrey reached out to her to help with the promotion she declined with good reason, “I said, ‘Oprah, I’m doing a talk show. I’m doing a comedy tour. I have a husband and I have babies.'”
“‘I have a little bit of downtime and I’m going to take advantage of it. So I’m not going anywhere because I’m not obligated to go anywhere. I’ve done my part.’ So we mutually agreed to disagree. That was it.”
The “Hair Show” star said her issue with Winfrey is not just about “Precious” promotion. She told “The Hollywood Reporter” early this year that her major beef with Winfrey has to do with Winfrey inviting her family to her talk show without first consulting her.
Here’s the thing. In 2010, Winfrey reached out to Mo’Nique to vet her to feature Gerald Imes, Mo’Nique’s elder brother who molested her as a child on her talk show. Mo’Nique gave her approval on the condition that Imes admits to his wrongdoings.
During the show, Imes said, “The hardest part to me was for even to admit to her that I did something wrong, I downplayed it by saying, ‘If you think I did something wrong, then I’m sorry.’ … I did it, I’m not proud of it.”
However, the agreement was for just Imes to show up, but Winfrey went ahead to feature both her parents and another brother, who didn’t share Mo’Nique’s view of her abuse.
Mo’Nique said, “We weren’t even speaking then. I see the show and I can tell that my mother is trying to make a dollar.”
“The Parkers” alum said that she confronted Winfrey after some years and Winfrey was like, “I’m going to look into your mother and father being on the show because I didn’t know anything about that.”
She admitted to Winfrey apologizing, “If I’ve done anything to offend you, I apologize.” But she clearly wants public acknowledgment from both Winfrey and Perry.
Initially, it was three against one, the additional person being “Precious” director Lee Daniels, but Mo’Nique and Lee reconciled after Daniels apologized in August 2022. “I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did,” said Daniels in a video (via NBC News).
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Mo’Nique right now. Come back here often for all the Mo’Nique’s spoilers, news, and updates.
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