What happened with Mo'Nique? Sidney Hicks open marriage controversy explored as comedian opens up in Netflix special

American comedian Mo'Nique got candid about her open marriage in her new Netflix special, My Name is Mo’Nique. On April 4, the roughly 70-minute special was released on the streaming platform. It featured the 55-year-old talking about her career struggles, gender, racism, gender identity, and mental disabilities.

In a viral clip from the show shared by news outlet The Shade Room, Mo'Nique shared an anecdote from her marriage about a time when she desired to get intimate with a woman and told this to her husband, Sidney Hicks. She said:

"I said Daddy, I wanna be there with another woman, s*xually. And he [Hicks] looked at me so beautifully, patiently and lovingly, and said, b*tch, me too."

Mo'Nique tied the knot with Sidney Hicks in 2006, after first crossing each other's paths in 1980 as students at Milford Mill High School in Baltimore, Maryland. They remained friends even after being married to other people.

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An overview of Mo'Nique and Sidney Hicks' open marriage

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in a March 2023 interview, the comedian shared that she and Hicks became roommates after their previous marriages ended. Soon, things became romantic and they started dating.

The duo became parents to twin sons - David and Jonathan Hicks - in 2005 and got married a year later.

As per The New York Times, the duo first revealed their open marriage in 2016, while talking about it on an episode of their podcast, Mo'Nique and Sidney's Open Relationship.

In it, Hicks said that the fact that they had been friends for their whole lives gave their marriage a level of freedom, which meant that nothing, not even getting involved with other people, could shake its base. As per the New York Times, he said:

"Before she was my wife, she was my sister. And there have been moments when she was like my little girl. When you go through all these dynamics with someone, you understand them. We got into this knowing that we both wanted to be with someone who's going to allow you to be who you are. I think one of the most romantic things you can do as a couple is be honest with each other. And we are."

While speaking to the New York Times in 2007, the comedian stated that the key to their open relationship was being honest with each other:

"We have an agreement that we'll always be honest. And if s*x happens with another person, that's not a deal breaker for us, that's not something where we'll say, 'Oh my God, we've got to go to divorce court, and you cheated on me.' Because we don't cheat."

However, while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, Mo'Nique said that they have stopped seeing people outside of their marriage.

"Life began to happen. I began to see a strength I had never seen before. He loved me at my worst. I didn't want to sacrifice that just for a lay. So I grew out of that."

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My Name Is Mo'Nique is currently available to stream on Netflix.