Why Mo'Nique Thinks It's Time to Bring Back Charm School
Mo'Nique is ready to go back to school.
Before the actress and comedian—whose new stand-up special My Name Is Mo'Nique is available on Netflix—won an Oscar in 2010 for her work in Precious, she hosted Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School on VH1 in 2007.
The show challenged contestants from Flavor Flav's reality dating series Flavor of Love to learn proper etiquette while competing for a grand prize of $50,000. And more than 15 years later, Mo'Nique thinks it might be time for a reboot.
"Even though it was all of what it was, there were people to still walk away with gems," she exclusively told E! News. "There were people who still walked away and said, ‘Wow, that made me think differently. That made me look at that differently.' I think that show was necessary and is necessary."
However, in looking back on the show, Mo'Nique acknowledged that she had a lot to learn, too.
"When I see those women now, I understand where they were coming from," she explained. "I don't think I was in the right place all the way to be the person to stand in front of because I was still dealing with my own issues."
Mo'Nique said she thinks Charm School should come back "differently, of course," but hesitated to say if she would be interested in hosting again, joking, "I'm not telling you anything."
We can dream.
For now, The Parkers star is focused on her new Netflix stand-up special My Name Is Mo'Nique, which hit the streamer April 4. After a tumultuous past few years—which has included public disagreements with Precious director Lee Daniels and Oprah Winfrey—the comedy veteran is soaking it all in.
"This moment is different because we had to fight for it," she noted of the special, which she produced with husband Sidney Hicks. "We had to take a stand for it, we had to speak out loud for it. This moment is different because my husband and I together stood side-by-side and we wouldn't go away. We wouldn't back down. We had to do what we had to do to get to this moment right here."
And the best part for the Bessie star—who shares twin sons Jonathan and David with her husband—is experiencing it all with her entire family.
"For my husband and I to sit down with our sons, it will be the first time they've ever seen their Mommy do stand-up," Mo'Nique added, "and know that their parents did that."
My Name Is Mo'Nique is available now on Netflix.
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