They told you it was coming, and now Oscar winning actress Mo’Nique and her husband of close to 10 years, Sidney Hicks are setting the record straight about their “open marriage.”
In their new podcast, titled “Open Relationship”, the couple are opening up about the details of their marriage and clarifying what Mo’Nique meant in the past when she made headlines for referring to their relationship as “open,” sparking rumors about the pair that ranges from accusing them of being swingers to having marital trouble.
Apparently, none of the above are true. We listened to the very first podcast, which debuted today, and we’re breaking down the facts.
It All Started With An ESSENCE Interview
“In 2006, I did an article in ESSENCE magazine with Jill Scott saying that I was in an open relationship,” said Mo’Nique. “And when I tell you back then people lost their minds. Now when I first told Sydney that I told Jill that in the interview, [he said] ‘Mama, that’s gonna backfire on you.’”
Yes, Mo’Nique Has Been With Other Men
“A lot of people have asked what does it mean. Initially, when I asked for it, it was because I wanted to continue to see the gentlemen that I was seeing, and I felt comfortable telling my best friend…so when I sat down and said this is what I want initially it was because I wanted to still have sex with who I was seeing and I didn’t want it to be where I was keeping anything from my best friend. That’s how it initially started, and when I tell you the conversations that we’ve had, it has taken me to a different place where I’m not even thinking of another man sexually, but still open to it.” – Mo’Nique
It Was All Mo’Nique’s Idea, Not Sidney’s
“When you pull it up, and you [look] up celebrities in open marriage and you see Will and Jada, whoever the person is the author of that article they say well we can understand why they would be in a open marriage they’re both beautiful people. When they start talking about Brad and Angelina, they said, ‘Well we can understand—they’re both beautiful people. The moment it got to my damn picture with my husband they said, ‘Oh, we hope Mo’Nique not gon’ let him just use her like that, because society looks at me and they see a woman that looks like [she] couldn’t possibly have a man that looks like that if there was not something else involved in it…she’s gonna let this man do anything he wants to do because she’s famous and she has money and now she can have whatever she wants, but she’s gonna let the man use her and abuse her. No one knew it wasn’t Sidney’s idea to have an open marriage. It was mine. I want to say that again. It was not Sidney’s idea to have an open marriage; it was mine.” – Mo’Nique
Mo’Nique’s Ego Got The Best Of Her
“Initially, when I said it, I had had the attitude of whoever makes the money, makes the rules. And, because I’m famous and I have the money I can do whatever I want to do. But then he said to me in the Bahamas, ‘Well mama, you know if you can see other men, I can see other women.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s not what I was talking about because I am the famous one, not you, and I have the money; you can’t do that. But what I had to learn was this thing called reciprocity. And that was very hard for me because my ego would get in the way…” – Mo’Nique
The Online Comments Hurt Them
“We’re so closed off and we’re so used to doing things the way people think we should do things, and we wanted to put it out there so that people understood it because when I tell you some of the Instagrams and some of the comments I was getting, daddy, I was having low self esteem I was having no self worth; I was trash. And, then everyone wanted to include God. ‘It’s against God.’ ‘It’s a big sin.’ And, ‘How could you say you love the Lord when you let your man lay with other women?’” – Mo’Nique
“Right! They didn’t think about what would happen if you decided to lay with other men.” — Sidney
Their Feelings Have Changed
“We’re dealing with 11 years of being together and there’s the evolution of what an ‘open marriage’ means, because when you are a father and a mother of three children, there’s not a whole lot of time to be doing a whole lot of slinging,” said Mo’Nique. “There’s not a whole lot of Ménage à trois and all of that, in fact, none,” Sidney added. “But that’s what people thought. They thought we were having these orgies, and I’m sorry daddy,” she told her husband.
This Is How They Define ‘Open Relationship’ Now
“So it’s not just an open relationship from a sexual standpoint, it’s an open relationship in terms of dialogue that you’re having with your spouse, your mate, your sons, your daughters, your mothers, your father, because we always hear ‘be someone important’ or ‘be yourself’ but that’s only when its politically correct—when you’ve fallen into the boundaries of what people expect you to be as opposed to you being yourself when it is against the preverbal norm but what we find is against the norm is really the norm.
They’re Still Happy
“This is not going to change the dynamic of our relationship, because I’m in love with this woman,” said Sidney. “I’ve been involved with someone for 33 years of my life, since we were kids. I’ve known her longer than I haven’t known her, so when you start saying to yourself the spirit that you came into this universe with is the spirit that you’re gonna exit this world with… are you going to be yourself through having an open conversation and an open dialogue and an open relationship?”
They didn’t stop there. Listen to the rest of the podcast here and tell us your thoughts below. Catch a new episode of “Open Relationship” on Play.it every Monday.