Following her 2010 Oscar win, Mo’Nique claims she has been blackballed in Hollywood, but she’s not taking the news lying down. See how she plans to make it on her own.
Was actress Mo'Nique blackballed by Hollywood after her big Oscar win for Precious?
She told INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent, "I am never willing to put my integrity at risk."
Mo'Nique expected her 2010 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress to be a major turning point in her career, one that would lead to more roles and bigger paychecks.
She said, "When I did the movie Precious for Mr. Daniels I was paid $50,000. I am not complaining about the money because that is what I signed up for."
But over the past five years, she hasn't appeared in a single film that's been released. A few months ago, she asked Precious director, Lee Daniels, what was going on.
She said, "What he did say was, 'You have been blackballed because you didn't play the game.'"
Daniels told Mo'Nique that she made too many demands and no one in Hollywood wanted to work with her because of her reputation for being so difficult.
The headline in The Hollywood Reporter blared, “Mo'Nique: I Was ‘Blackballed’ After Winning My Oscar.”
"To say that I am difficult, any project that I have ever done, when they say 'Wrap' and that's it, we are all hugging and crying, speaking about the great experience that we had," she told Trent.
He asked, "You think there are ways that you can act differently in the future where you wouldn't be labelled as difficult?"
She replied, "You know what, Les? To stand up for what is wrong, I couldn't even do that differently. Would I not stand up for Gabourey Sidibe who they wanted to fly coach to France. That is a long ride, we are big women. I will still stand up for that. I will never stop standing up for injustice."
Mo'Nique says that Lee Daniels did offer her a role in his hit movie The Butler but the part went to Oprah Winfrey instead. Other offers "just went away," she says.
The 47-year-old actress says she's now forging her own path. She does stand-up comedy around the country and is acting in and producing an independent movie called Blackbird.
She described it to Trent, saying, "It is about one family trying to get to the journey of acceptance."
The film comes out in April.
