AWARDWINNING actress and comedian Mo’nique has claimed she was "blackballed" by Hollywood heavyweights for not "playing the game".
In a revealing essay for the Hollywood Reported, the actress disclosed how a number of roles “went away” following her 2010 Oscar win.
The comedian, who was praised for her transformation into an abusive mother in the 2009 Lee Daniels film, Precious explained how a conversation with director Daniels revealed roles she lost out to media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
“I got a phone call from Lee Daniels and he said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’ve been blackballed.’ I said, ‘why?’ and he said, ‘because you didn’t play the game.’”
The 47-year-old actor’s absence from the big screen following Precious, she explained, have been because she's regarded as “difficult,” “tactless” and “tacky”
She added: “That’s why I have my beautiful husband because he’s so full of tact. I’m just a girl from Baltimore. But being from that place, you learn not to let anybody take advantage of you.”
On the acting opportunities she missed out on, the Oscar-winning star revealed that was offered to play the wife of Forest Whitaker in Daniels’ The Butler and a major role on Daniels' hit television drama Empire, but both “just went away.”
The The Butler role went to Winfrey instead.
In a statement issued to the Hollywood Reporter, Daniels said: “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."
the director added: "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.”
Mo’nique, real name Monique Angela Hicks, first appeared on the scene in 1999 as a comedian before finding fame on American sitcom Moesha playing the jovial Nicole ‘Nikki’ Parker alongside singer Brandy Norwood.