Burying the hatchet!
Mo'Nique and Lee Daniels, who directed her Oscar-winning performance in Precious, have settled a years-long feud and are set to work together again. The comedian-actress brought the director out onstage at her Mo'Nique and Friends: April Fools Day with The Queen of Comedy show on Staten Island, New York on April 1.
"I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did. She was my best friend, my best friend. Y'all think that Precious was just— that was God working, through both of us. And we're going to f--king do it again!" Daniels said, before showing some dance moves and hugging Mo'Nique.
They then exchanged "I love you"s as the audience cheered.
Hours before the show, Deadline reported that Mo'Nique is set to replace Octavia Spencer in the director's new film Demon House after the latter actress had a scheduling conflict. It will mark the second onscreen roles since 2016 for Mo'Nique, who is set to make her acting comeback in the upcoming thriller The Reading, which was filmed last year.
Following Mo'Nique and Daniels' onstage reunion, both stars posted the same photo of themselves embracing on their Instagrams. "NO CAPTION NEEDED I LOVE US 4REAL," she captioned her post, adding a red heart emoji. Daniels, who included an extra pic of the two, wrote, "[heart emoji] no caption needed @therealmoworldwide."
In 2015, five years after winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Precious, Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter that Daniels told her over the phone the year prior that she'd been blackballed "because you didn't play the game." She did not elaborate, but added that other people have called her "difficult."
At the time, Daniels told the outlet in response, "Mo'Nique is a creative force to be reckoned with. Her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community. I consider her a friend. I have and will always think of her for parts that we can collaborate on. However, the consensus among the creative teams and powers thus far were to go another way with these roles."
Daniels later told CNN's Don Lemon that Mo'Nique made numerous "demands" during the awards campaign for Precious. "She was making unreasonable demands and she wasn't thinking," Daniels said. "I said, 'You have to thank the producers of the film. You have to thank the studio.' And I think she didn't understand that and I said, 'Listen, people aren't going to respond well if you don't."