There may still be bad blood between Mo’Nique and Tyler Perry.
After Perry gave a speech at the late singer Angie Stone’s funeral, in which he talked about the mistreatment she faced during her career, she penned a lengthy open letter on Instagram to address the “unsettling discrepancies in [Perry’s] actions towards me.”
Here’s what she said and the phone conversations she leaked.
Mo’Nique reminds Perry of their contentious past
Before calling out Perry, Mo’Nique shared her “heartfelt condolences” to Stone’s family.
“Please know that your fight inspired us to write this letter, and that the fight doesn’t end with your passing, as it is only beginning,” she wrote along with a clip of Perry’s speech.
She then addressed “Mr. Perry,” explaining that his speech during Stone’s funeral “struck me and my husband Sidney as poignant, but also made us reflect on some unsettling discrepancies in your actions towards me.”
“You expressed anger over Angie’s mistreatment,” she wrote. “Yet, you labeled me ‘difficult to work with,’ despite never having worked with me. How can you condemn poor treatment of others when you’ve imposed the same on me? We have audio of you admitting you were wrong.”
Mo’Nique asked Perry about the “public apology that you promised in 2016” and recounted how “the false narrative you perpetuated helped blackball me, costing me tens of millions.”
She asked, “Where’s the restitution for that?”
The actress also called out Perry for not paying her to promote the 2009 film Precious while, in his speech at Stone’s funeral, he discussed being “‘tired’ of us not receiving the benefits we deserve.”
After arguing that, as a “man of faith,” Perry should uphold a “responsibility to act with love and truth,” Mo’Nique concluded her message by asking the multi-hyphenate to right the wrongs he’s done to her and her family.
“In closing, I hope your words at Angie’s funeral inspire you to correct the wrongs done to my family and me. You have the power to do so. As you’ve shared biblical teachings, please remember: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul” (Mark 8:36). We await your response,” she wrote.
Mo’Nique leaked a recorded phone call with Perry
In addition to the clip of Perry’s speech, Mo’Nique also shared snippets of a phone call with Perry. She first shared the conversation in 2020, when Will Smith publicly apologized to his The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Janet Hubert.
In the first clip, Mo’Nique tells the filmmaker the importance of their reconciliation for “the community.” Mo’Nique’s husband, Sidney Hicks, then asks Perry to confirm whether he admitted that calling Mo’Nique “difficult” was wrong. Toward the end of the clip, Perry agrees with Hicks.
According to Bossip, Perry is also heard on the audio telling Mo’Nique that “it’s heartbreaking” hearing that he upset her so deeply. He also said he wrote a project with her in mind but decided not to pursue it because of his distributor, Lionsgate. Lionsgate also distributed Precious, and as previously stated, Mo’Nique was (and remains) unhappy with the promotional requirements of the film.
In the second clip, Perry tells Hicks playfully that he’ll address Mo’Nique’s claims of blackballing on his next press tour. He didn’t, however, explicitly agree to apologize to the actress publicly.
Mo’Nique made peace with Lee Daniels in 2022
While Mo’Nique’s relationship status with Perry and Oprah Winfrey, whom she’s also called out in recent years, remains ambiguous, she buried the hatchet with Lee Daniels, another party she’s been at odds with, in 2022. The pair called it water under the bridge when Daniels attended a stop on her comedy tour.
“Sometimes in life you get caught up,” Daniels said. “I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did, y’all, and she was my best friend — my best friend. Y’all think that Precious was just … That was God working, through both of us.”
The duo again collaborated on Netflix’s 2024 thriller, The Deliverance.
