Lee Daniels Apologized to Mo'Nique for “Precious” Feud 'Even If I Didn't Understand What I Was Apologizing For'

Lee Daniels and Mo'Nique reunited for the first time since 'Precious' for their new Netflix movie 'The Deliverance,' streaming on Aug. 30

Lee Daniels had some work to do to squash a feud that developed between him and Mo'Nique in the years after they made their Academy Award-winning 2009 movie Precious.

More than two years after Daniels, 64, and Mo'Nique, 56, publicly reconciled during a comedy show in Staten Island, New York, the filmmaker and actress have teamed up again for The Deliverance, a Netflix horror film.

"Wasn’t that God working? First of all, part of me trying to find my higher power was also understanding what that meant," Daniels told The Hollywood Reporter while speaking to how he and Mo'Nique came to collaborate once more. "And that meant forgiveness, that meant apologizing, even if I didn’t understand what I was apologizing for. I had to understand that she was hurt, and that is my sister, and that I love her."

Although Mo'Nique won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Precious back in 2010, she claimed in the years afterwards that Daniels had told her she was "blackballed" from Hollywood and lost out on several potential movie roles after she did not promote Precious on the awards circuit.

Related: Andra Day Fights Demons with Glenn Close and Mo'Nique in Trailer for Lee Daniels' The Deliverance (Exclusive)

"And like, what is this about? You know what I mean? This is crazy. I love you, this is enough," Daniels told the outlet of easing tensions between himself and Mo'Nique in recent years. "So, not only am I going to apologize, but I’m going to apologize publicly to you, and we’re getting ready to work together. And then we’re going to work together again, how about that?"

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Mo'Nique brought Daniels out on stage during a comedy show she hosted in N.Y.C. in April 2022, where the duo reconciled in front of an audience. "I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did," Daniels said at the event, per video footage shared on social media at the time. "She was my best friend, my best friend. Y'all think that Precious was just — that was God working, through both of us."

Mo'Nique's new collaboration with Daniels also features Andra Day, Glenn Close, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton and Anthony B. Jenkins. It only marks Mo'Nique's eighth onscreen role since Precious released in 2009. The movie follows Day's character, a single mother named Ebony Jackson, whose struggles with alcoholism and caring for her family come to a head when they move into a seemingly haunted house.

The Deliverance is playing in select theaters now and begins streaming on Netflix Aug. 30.

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