Mo’Nique is calling out Oprah Winfrey after the media mogul revisited a private moment involving the late Whitney Houston, and the Oscar-winning comedian says the issue is bigger than celebrity gossip.
During an appearance on the My Husband Is My Best Friend YouTube channel, Mo’Nique was asked about Oprah recently speaking on Whitney allegedly falling during a 2009 taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Without holding back, Mo’Nique questioned why Oprah would publicly share a story about a woman who is no longer here to defend herself.
“How do you speak about someone that can’t defend it?” Mo’Nique said. “That just in my humble opinion, it takes it different because that woman can’t say yes or no.”
Mo’Nique continued, making it clear that her criticism was about accountability, not hate.
“And now you just want everybody to take your word, because you’re the great Oprah Winfrey,” she added. “That I believe is unfair. I believe that’s unfair. And I still love my sister, Oprah Winfrey. Let me be clear about that. People think in correction, it means you don’t love. It’s simply just correction.”
The comments come after Oprah, while speaking at Cannes Lions, recalled Whitney’s final appearance on her daytime talk show. Oprah claimed Whitney had “gone back on drugs” and said the singer “fell off of the stage” during the performance. Oprah also said she begged audience members not to leak photos because she believed the story could destroy Whitney publicly.
However, Whitney Houston’s estate pushed back strongly, saying the fall did happen but not for the reason Oprah suggested. According to the estate, Whitney fell during soundcheck because the area was dark and unfamiliar, and “she was absolutely not high.” The estate also said it was unfair to attach Whitney’s personal struggles to every moment in her career.
That point appears to be exactly where Mo’Nique took issue. She also compared Oprah’s comments to Oprah’s own public fall onstage in 2020, joking that Oprah blamed the “wrong shoes” at the time, while arguing that living people can explain themselves in ways Whitney cannot.
The moment also lands in the middle of Mo’Nique’s long-running tension with Oprah. Mo’Nique has repeatedly accused Oprah, Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels of contributing to her being labeled “difficult” after “Precious,” a film that won Mo’Nique the 2010 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Mo’Nique has also said she felt betrayed by Oprah over a 2010 episode that featured her estranged family, including her brother, who admitted to molesting her as a child. Mo’Nique said she approved her brother appearing but was “horrified” when other family members were included.
For Mo’Nique, the Whitney backlash seems to reopen a familiar argument: powerful people can tell stories, but the people impacted by those stories deserve dignity too.
