'Hopefully, somewhere, somehow, as siblings, we can come back together as brother and sister,' Gerald Imes says, trying to reach out to his estranged sister.
- Apr 20, 2010
AceShowbiz - Gerald Imes has admitted that he molested his sister Mo'Nique and now he apologizes for what he did. "I'm here today to first acknowledge that I've been in denial for 37 years. ... I did assault and inappropriately touch my sister in manners that were uncomfortable for her," he says during his appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". "And for that, I apologize and I'm humbly sorry that those actions had taken place."
Imes explains that his issue with drugs and alcohol spurred the abuse, saying "I started using cocaine, heroine, alcohol at the age of 11. I used these drugs to hide my own pain, to hide my own fears... The drugs allowed me and afforded me the opportunity to hurt my sister." He further shares, "Most of the time, the abuse that I did with my sister took place while she was asleep [or] the appearance that she was asleep."
For years, Imes was in denial of his own evil actions. "The hardest part for me was even to admit to her I did something wrong," he states. "I downplayed it by saying, 'If you think I did it ... .' " But he claims he has come with a full recognition of his abusive manner, saying "There's no more 'if you think' - I did it. I did it. I'm not proud of it. Mo'Nique, I'm sorry."
"I abused and betrayed the trust of another sibling, my sister, my blood sister." Realizing that the incident has ruined his relationship with Mo'Nique, Imes tries to reach out to the "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" star. "I'm doing this to apologize to my sister, to hopefully bring back some family unity. I'm doing this to publicly acknowledge. Now let's bring our family back together," he additionally states.
