It’s been quite a controversial two weeks for Oscar Award winning actress/comedian, Mo’Nique, but she ain’t NEVER scared of a lil’ controversy surrounding her name. That’s why she’s still standing by her words against being blackballed within the industry by Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler Perry (although she does acknowledge that she and Tyler have squashed their beef).

In a recent interview with social commentator, Yvette Carnell, Mo’ was asked about how little money she’d been paid from the film, Precious– the Lee Daniels directed film she won the Oscar for.  Mo’Nique then revealed a little known fact about her pay.

How Much She Did Not Earn

Although it is now widely known she was only paid $50K to star in the film, it isn’t widely known how much she was supposed to have earn on the backend. (See what she said at the 3:58 mark of the video below):

Mo’Nique: “There was supposed to be back end money, no I was not a producer. I was given 5 percent of the movie. But at the end of the day there was no money”

Carnell: “You didn’t get paid a million dollars for Precious did you? Im just breaking this down in terms of winning an Oscar and not getting paid Oscar money.”

Mo’Nique: “I got paid $50,000 to do Precious. When I got that in all fairness because it was never about the money. I did that movie for my friend, I did it for the challenge, and we did it because me and my husband said if we hit this out of the box it will save people’s lives.”

So here’s what I pretty much guesstimated based on what Mo’ is saying: Precious reportedly grossed about $47 million and cost $10 million to produce. If Mo’Nique was set to earn 5% of say, the net profit of $37 million, then she was not paid $1.85 million! This is a hypothetical calculation of course, based on what the film has allegedly earned, combined with Mo’Nique’s side of the story.

Mo’Nique Makes Comparison To Hattie McDaniels

Mo’Nique also further explained why she chose to finally call out Oprah, Tyler, and Lee, by referencing the iconic African American actress, Hattie McDaniels- the very first Black person to win an Oscar Award in 1939:

Mo’Nique: “When you know Hattie McDaniels’ story and our stories are so similar it’s like ‘Hattie you talking to me baby?’ When you know her story and the journey she took when she won that Oscar, it was a Black man by the name of Walter White, who shut that woman down. He felt like ‘we’ve gotta move on from the mammy, it is now time for the light skin woman to take over and she being our representation of Black. We can no longer use this Black woman. And everyone threw her away without no one taking a stand saying what are we doing. So when you know that woman died in poverty, when you know she died by herself, when you now she died and no one showed up after all she gave, she’s saying Mo’Nique don’t let that be your story. Don’t go out in silence, don’t go out suffering, you’ve gotta say it out loud.”

Mo’s husband’s closing statement was:

“What we’re saying is, it is better to be free and better to be disliked for who you actually are, than to be loved for who you’re pretending to be.”

It actually doesn’t sound like Mo’Nique is being irrational in her stance about having been blackballed, it just seems like she’s fed up and isn’t afraid to speak on it.

Overall, we have great respect for them all- Mo’Nique, Oprah, Tyler, and Lee- so hopefully Mo’Nique will eventually be able to have the same reconciliation with Winfrey and Daniels as she’s now had with Tyler.