Mo’Nique is not your typical Hollywood actress, says Tim Teeman in the London Times. She recently won an Oscar for her role as a monstrous mother in the film Precious. It was a devastating performance, inspired by her own experience of sexual abuse at the hands of an older brother. But in the run-up to the award, it was the 42-year-old’s unshaved legs that generated the most comment. “I’ve been in the business for 20 years and they’re talking about this,” she says. “All the s--- going on in the world, and my hairy legs make the news.”
All in all, Mo’Nique has little use for Hollywood conventions: She refused to join in the Oscar PR circus, is outspoken about racism in the film industry, and refuses to diet or shave her legs to meet the movies’ standards of beauty. “Brother, I enjoy every inch of me. Do you see these gray hairs? I will not hide them. Surgery? Noooo. I love the gift I’ve been given. I don’t want to get to heaven and St. Peter to say, ‘Who the hell are you?’ I want him to see wrinkles, gray hair, double belly, double chin, arms that jiggle, thighs that rub together, big feet … It’s me.”
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