Mo'Nique still wants an apology from Oprah for family talk show drama
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Mo'Nique is opening up about confronting Oprah Winfrey over an episode of her eponymous talk show that involved her estranged family in 2010.
The Oscar winner previously accused Winfrey, as well as filmmakers Lee Daniels and Tyler Perry, of "blackballing" her. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, Mo'Nique recounted further strain in her relationship with Winfrey, including the time the talk show host welcomed her estranged family — including her eldest brother, who admitted to molesting her as a child — onto her show in 2010.
Following her Oscar win that year, Winfrey informed Mo'Nique that her brother called her and wanted to be on the show to "let her know how parents can watch out for predators," Mo'Nique recounted. "She then said, 'Do you want to come on the show, because he wants to apologize to you?' I said, 'Oprah, I don't want no part of that.'" While she gave Winfrey her blessing to tape the show with her brother, she was "horrified" to see other family members — her parents and another brother, who downplayed the abuse — on the show.
Aaron Poole/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic Mo'Nique; Oprah Winfrey
Mo'Nique claimed she and Winfrey "had a lengthy conversation" before the episode where she shared that she and her mother "were not on good terms. We weren't even speaking. Then I see the show and I can tell that my mother is trying to make a dollar. I know my family." She contacted Winfrey, feeling betrayed. "I reached out to everybody I could to try to get to Oprah," Mo'Nique said. "No. Nothing. It just went dead."
It was during an Oscar party at Alfre Woodard's home in celebration of nominee (and eventual winner) Lupita Nyong'o in 2014 that Mo'Nique confronted Winfrey. She took a seat next to her on a sofa and said, "You know we're going to have to talk, right?" Later, when attendees gathered to address Nyong'o about their own Oscar journeys, "I said, 'Lupita, run your race the way you want to run it, baby. Because when you get to the end of it, you should have no regrets,'" she said.
"Oprah Winfrey was sitting on my right. And then I turned to her and said, 'Now I need to talk to you.' There were some phenomenal Black women there. You could have heard a pin drop. I said, 'Since you didn't want to return my calls, for whatever reason, I'm going to say this right here,'" Mo'Nique recounted. She asked Winfrey why she had her estranged family on the show, and Winfrey allegedly said that she had only invited her eldest brother, who showed up with the rest of their family in tow.
Paul Morigi/WireImage Lee Daniels and Mo'Nique
Mo'Nique suspected it was a lie, she said. Winfrey said, "I'm going to look into your mother and father being on the show, because I didn't know anything about that," according to Mo'Nique, also adding that Winfrey said "something like, 'If I've done anything to offend you, I apologize.'" That apology, apparently, wasn't enough for Mo'Nique. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she "still demands and expects public apologies from Winfrey and Perry."
Mo'Nique and Daniels recently made amends last year after over a decade of tension, announcing that they would reunite for an upcoming Netflix thriller. Mo'Nique has also said that Perry tried to bury the hatchet, but allegedly only agreed to apologize if she apologized for the blackball claims.
Both Winfrey and Perry declined THR's request for comment on the story. EW has also reached out to the stars' representatives for comment.
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