HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Gerald Imes, the brother of Oscar-winning actress Mo'Nique, has apologized for sexually abusing her during their childhood.
"I abused and betrayed the trust of another sibling, my sister, my blood sister," Imes said on Monday's Oprah Winfrey Show. "I'm sorry, Mo'Nique. I'm sorry."
For the first time, Imes admitted that he molested Mo'Nique for about a year or two when he was 13 and she was about 7.
"The hardest part to me was for even to admit to her that I did something wrong. I downplayed it by saying, 'If you think I did something wrong, then I'm sorry.'...I did it, I'm not proud of it," he said.
Imes said the sexual abuse was triggered by him also being a victim of molestation. He said that led to him abusing drugs and alcohol by age 11. Imes said he was hopeful the pair could "come back together as brother and sister."
"I'm not a monster," he said. "I'm her older brother."
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