Mo’Nique Discusses Precious Life

“Precious” is getting Oscar buzz all around:

While Mo’Nique may be known for her sassy stand-up comedy and larger-than-life personality, at her home just outside of Atlanta she is simply “Mommy.” “When we’re at home it ain’t ‘action and cut’,” says the mom of 4-year-old twins, Jonathan and David, and a 19-year-old son, Shalon. “It’s just like a playground in our house – nothing but fun and love.”

But when she took on the role of an abusive mother in the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire, the actress set her current contentment aside and recalled a much harder time in her life. In this week’s issue of PEOPLE, Mo’Nique opens up about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her eldest brother – and how she channeled that experience onscreen. “Coming from being molested as a child, when [director Lee Daniels] said, ‘I need you to be this monster,’ well [I] knew who that monster was,” she says. Now, critics are pegging Mo’Nique, 41, as a possible Oscar nominee, but that doesn’t phase her. “Any buzz I’m appreciative of,” she says simply.