NBCIf you believe everything you've read, chances are you think Mo'Nique is difficult to work with and can't get a job anywhere in Hollywood.
But while speaking out on Tuesday's all-new Meredith Vieira Show, the Oscar-winning actress set the record straight and explained how such rumors even surfaced.
"I never bought into the blackball as I've been saying because the scripts never stopped coming, the offers never stopped coming," she explained to Meredith Vieira. "I really think that was [Lee] Daniels' perception."
During a recent essay in The Hollywood Reporter, Mo'Nique revealed a phone call she had with the famous director and producer who claimed she was no longer wanted in Hollywood because she "didn't play the game."
That game includes campaigning long and hard around the world if your movie role has the potential to earn some impressive trophies during award season. For better or worse, Mo'Nique got a taste of the brutal sport when supporting Precious.
"I promoted all of it in the United States of America. I went on the biggest show at the time in the world, The Oprah Winfrey Show, but at that time, I had my own talk show, was on a comedy tour and I'm still a wife and a mommy," she explained. "So when they called for me to go to France, to Cannes, I said guys, ‘I respectfully decline. I have a little bit of down time and I'm going to share that with my family.'"
She said it was the start of a long battle that resulted in the higher ups calling not once but three times urging Mo'Nique to venture out of the country to support her critically acclaimed film. After finding out she wasn't going to get paid for the promotion, the actress continued to "respectfully decline."
"I think that my no thank you says she's difficult because normally you don't get the no thank you's. Normally you get, ‘What time should I be there and how should I act?‘" Mo'Nique explained. "Well, I'm like guys I'm 47-years-old. I am an older woman now with a family. It is my second chance at motherhood, my third chance at being a wife. I don't want to blow it. So that's where the whole difficult thing came in."
Through all the ups and down, the actress had her real friends along for the ride who knew the truth behind all the headlines.
"I say for people that know me, I'm sure they were saying, ‘Do they have the right Mo'Nique? Because we don't know her to be that person,'" she shared. "But I understand why they were saying it."