Monique's parents, who are estranged from the actress for a different matter and appeared along side their son on Oprah, says they wish Monique had come to them before she exposed her brother. Monique's mom, who put her 15 year old son Gerald out of the house for a while after Monique told her he 'tried to lay on top of her', told Oprah,
"I felt hurt for both of my kids... I let her (Mo'Nique) know that I believed her. I said, 'Mo'Nique, I understand you don't wanna go back (to) when it (sexual assault) was. Do you feel like, to clear yourself, you need to go and we can talk to someone other than myself, that you can cleanse and let this out.' She said, 'No mom, I'm fine; I just want to let you know that this happened.'""We have always been a close family... I wasn't upset, but my thought was, 'As a family such as we were, this is something I felt that should have been discussed first privately within the family. Now, if you wanna tell the world, but give us a chance (sic)."My question is, 'You are older now, we are older now, maybe as a family we can better understand what help was really needed.'"I only hope, with doing this, this can cleanse her hurt."
