For years now, Mo’Nique has remained determined to create opportunities to hold Hollywood peers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry accountable for transgressions she claims robbed her of millions of dollars and stunted her career after being blackballed.
But her estranged adult son, Shalon Watkins, says it is the Academy Award winner who needs a lesson on taking accountability. The “Precious” star likely unintentionally created room for discourse about her strained relationship with Shalon when she appeared on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast.
In her discussion with host Shannon Sharpe, she spoke in-depth about her experiences in the industry, her feud with Winfrey and Perry, and the sacrifices she made in pursuit of fame.
At one point, the 56-year-old acknowledged that she was not the best mother to Shalon but that she sacrificed being a more present and nurturing figure to provide him with options she did not have growing up. She shares her firstborn with her first husband, Dallas Morning News sportswriter Calvin Watkins.
“We’re still very much separated, and it’s one of those things where you have to pray to the universe and say let time do the healing, and that’s it. That’s it. Let time do the healing. It may heal it in time, and it may not, and that’s something we as parents have to say…I’ve done what I could do. I’ve taken accountability for it. Now it’s up to you,” she told Sharpe about the rift.
Shalon, who is also a standup comic, broke his silence on TikTok. His account features a profile picture of him as a baby with his mother. He alluded to being her child in a previous video following the “guess my celebrity parent” trend, where he shared a clip of his season 2, episode seven, “Scary Kim,” guest appearance on “The Parkers.”
His latest post is the first time he has explicitly addressed their connection on the platform. “I felt the need to make this video just to provide some context to his fans narrative of her praying to the universe […] to reconcile our relationship,” he began in the nine-minute post.
“My mother and I both know that that is a very false narrative, and I would like to free her of having to continue to tell that lie. Faith without work is dead, and neither one of us cares to put forth effort to reconcile with the other. We are separated, as she put it, because she doesn’t care to be my mother any more than I care to be her son. Neither one of us has had the desire to reach out to the other in a really long time,” he continued.
He also hit back at having to hear Mo’Nique’s truths, saying, “News flash, standing in your truth doesn’t make you noble.” She was accused of showing a lack of humility, consideration, and compassion when “taking any level of accountability” for allegedly telling Shalon in the past that she had no interest in being a mother. “If I had to guess, though, her interest in being a mother probably started around the time she married her Daddy and had children.”
Mo’Nique also has a son named Mark Johnson Jr. she shares with her second husband, Mark Johnson. She married her longtime friend Sidney Hicks, whom she affectionately refers to as Daddy, in 2006.
They share twin sons, Johnathan and David Hicks. Shalon said her neglect became validated when she and Hicks grew their family, leaving him to question his worth and the meaning of a mother in this life. Her son claimed that she has a history of retreating to her husband instead of dealing with their fractured mother-son bond, seemingly confirming her own remarks that Hicks is her No. 1 priority.
I’ve watched enough. I feel his pain and Mo’Nique needs to stop talking to her “daddy” and make things right with her son. ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/J3LnAb0amA
— J. Belle (@jbelleonair) February 13, 2024
“I fully support this young man. She can talk about everybody else but this is the real source on who she is,” tweeted one person in reaction to the video. “Now if I was Oprah this would be my next interview,” wrote another X user.
The podcast episode also reignited the comedienne’s feud with D.L. Hughley who slammed her for making their rift personal by using his daughter’s sexual trauma to attack his parenting. In a recent video response to her “Club Shay Shay” interview, Hughley told her to treat his children as she does her own — like they are invisible.
