Everyone has been talking about Mo’Nique‘s interview with Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast, and one person who shared their thoughts about it is her son, Shalon Jackson. He did a brief TikTok making it clear that he wasn’t feeling some of her comments.
Jackson stated that his mom spun a “false narrative” about their relationship during the interview.
If you’re wondering what exactly she said, the Oscar winner addressed the fractured relationship with Jackson, acknowledging that she didn’t do the best job as a mother when she was new to fame.
“We’re still very much separated, and it’s one of those things where you have to pray to the universe and say let time do the healing, and that’s it. That’s it. Let time do the healing,” Mo’Nique, 56, stated about her son.
She continued, “It may heal it in time and it may not. And that’s something that we as parents have to say, ‘Listen, I’ve done what I can do. I’ve taken accountability for it. Now, it’s up to you.’”
Jackson, who is also a comedian, responded, saying that neither party is making an effort to fix the relationship and that she didn’t show enough compassion when attempting to take accountability. Some social media users don’t understand his argument considering Mo’Nique acknowledged she made mistakes and confirmed that they don’t have a real relationship currently.
“I would like to free her from having to continue telling that lie,” said Jackson in his TikTok video. “Faith without work is dead, and neither one of us cares to put forth any effort to reconcile with the other. We are separate as she put it because she doesn’t care to be my mother any more than I care to be her son.”
He continued, “Neither one of us has had the desire to reach out to the other in a very long time and I don’t think either of us anticipates that feeling returning,” he said. “I’m tired of hearing my mother’s truths. News flash…standing in your truth doesn’t make you noble.”
Jackson also said sharing online was a form of therapy for him and acknowledged that Mo’Nique never pretended she was a saint, admitting to not doing the best job as his mom.
“To be completely honest and fair, those were things that I was willing to get over. Nobody’s perfect, we’re all human. But, my mother showed a clear lack of humility, compassion, [and] consideration when taking any level of accountability for those things. My mother does a fantastic job of acknowledging a lot of things, but she doesn’t take accountability very well and anything that she may take true accountability for is only at her convenience in my experience,” he said.
He added that the actress had no interest in being a mom but only changed her tune when she married her husband, Sidney Hicks, and had two children with him.
“If I had to guess, though, her interest in being a mother probably started around the time she married her ‘Daddy’ and had children,” he said.
The couple decided to respond in a joint video on Instagram, where they went live. During the chat, they addressed her estranged son’s points and shared their side of the story.
“There are some people that are saying ‘Oh you should be ashamed of your mothering skills, you should be ashamed of yourself,’” Mo’Nique said. “This is what I say, ‘Let’s let it play out.’ Because the same ones that were saying oh I was crazy, I was deranged, we watched it play out. So just like with my son, we’re going to watch this play out.”
Hicks chimed in stating that himself and the comedian have showed up for Jackson over the years.
“The irony of all this is not what is said but what’s left off. See you’re leaving off the fact that the last time we laid eyes on you, your mother got you everything you needed for the newborn baby about three years. You’re forgetting how I, from Georgia, was talking you through getting your car after we gave you the half-payment for it and you were 31, 32 years old at that point.”
He also added that he, Mo’Nique and Jackson’s biological father have a great relationship and communicate for his sake. Additionally, Hicks said it gets to a point where parents have to leave kids to make their own decisions and forge their own path.
In relation to why they’re sharing their family feud in public, Hicks says it’s because the Black community is often too embarrassed to have these conversations.
“We need to stop being embarrassed about being human beings and about being Black human beings,” he said. “You will oftentimes hear ‘You are embarrassing yourself in front of them.’ Who is them? Because when you hear someone articulate these things that is the slave mentality…You should conduct yourself with dignity because the spirit of you is watching. But we need to have these conversations out loud, that’s taboo, because we have limited time here together.”