During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mo' Nique revealed that she'd like a public apology from Oprah Winfrey. According to Mo’Nique’s recollection of what happened, a month after she won her Oscar in 2010 for her supporting role in Precious, Winfrey asked if she could host the actress’s brother on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She said Oprah had called her beforehand to let her know that her “brother had called Oprah and he wanted to come on the show to let her know how parents can watch out for predators.”
Mo'Nique continued, “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.'”
During the episode, Mo’Niques eldest brother, Gerald Imes, confessed to sexually abusing her for several years.
After the show aired, she said she was not able to get a hold of Oprah. Prior to the show’s taping, they had a “lengthy conversation” about why she and her mother were no longer speaking to each other. She added, “Then I see the show and I can tell that my mother is trying to make a dollar. I know my family.”
Mo'Nique revealed that she didn't see Oprah again until 2014 at Alfre Woodard's Oscar's Party and she got a chance to talk to Oprah. She explained, “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 said that Oprah claimed that she had only invited her brother who sexually abused her onto the show, but he appeared that day with the rest of her family. Oprah went on to say, “I’m going to look into your mother and father being on the show, because I didn’t know anything about that,” and then said “something like, ‘If I’ve done anything to offend you, I apologize.'”
