Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story (2025 Lifetime Movie)
📺. Stream/Watch the Movie (Ad): Watch Not My Family Now
Cast: Yaya DaCosta, Robert III Hamilton, Kadeem Isaiah
Director: Tailiah Breon
Writer(s): TBA
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
In this inspiring Ripped from the Headlines story, Monique Smith endured a horrific childhood, only to eventually discover that her abusive family…wasn’t even her family at all! From a young age, Monique always felt out of place in her family. Living in constant fear of abuse from her mother and others, she dreamed of finding people who loved her and a place that truly felt like a home. Because of the abuse she suffered, she felt she could never embrace her family and especially wanted to know her origin story once she became a mother herself. After realizing she didn’t have proper documentation, including a birth certificate or social security card, she goes on a decades-long search to discover who she really is. Yaya DaCosta, Robert Hamilton III, Solace Kimbro Jones, Kadeem Isaiah, Morgan-Rose Jordan and Djassi DaCosta Johnson (2025).
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts off in the year 2000. Yaya from ANTM plays Monique Smith. She hands out flyers of a missing person. That missing person is herself as a child.
Rewind to 1976, Baltimore, where the Smith family plays cards. The matriarch of the family is Elizabeth, and she is no-nonsense. Granny Sara is second in command. Uncle Eddie is laid back but streetwise, and Uncle Leroy is the center of attention. His wife, Elaine, dresses like a ho. Mama Liz is loud and mean to Monique. There is one uncle who is a molester. None of these people are Monique’s real family.
Elizabeth is abusive physically and emotionally; Monique cries and wonders what she did to deserve this life. It is disturbing.
Yaya is back and playing teen Monique; we know this because she has a ponytail. Yaya wants to join the army, but Elizabeth is obstructionist and won’t let her daughter do anything to better herself. (Elizabeth withholds Monique’s birth certificate and backhands her for asking.) She even tears up the acceptance letter that was meant for Monique.
While looking for her identification, Monique finds some cash and runs away. She leaves a note for Granny Sara and quickly packs a bag. Monique can’t stay in a house where she has to fight for her life. Then she hops the first bus out of town and ends up on the streets of St. Augustine, where the money bag is quickly stolen.
Caroline, a strange white lady in a tracksuit, takes Monique in and says she just wants to help. The woman is, of course, a pimp and running a whore house.
Monique quickly works the circuit and picks up men in bars. They flatter her and tell her she deserves more, but Monique is looking for hourly payments, laughing off men who promise her a better life. That is until she meets Gino. They quickly get married, but his abusive and junkie behavior comes to the surface eventually. A Pregnant Monique packs her bags and returns to live with Grandma Sara.
The welcome isn’t warm, and her mother is not surprised Monique is knocked up and single. They let her stay as long as she doesn’t steal again. Speaking of stealing, Elizabeth may have stolen a baby because Grandma Sara doesn’t remember Elizabeth being pregnant with Monique.
Monique gives birth to her daughter, Christina, alone in the hospital in 1989. The nurse files the birth certificate, and Monique becomes curious about her own birth certificate. There is no certificate (birth or death) on file in Maryland, which leaves Monique wondering who she is. The search is on to find out who she really is.
Monique starts work at an office and gets her own apartment. (and some new glasses) The building manager, Johnathan, is flirty AF, and Monique opens herself up to love again. Just as things are looking up, Granny Sara dies.
After the funeral, Monique is done with her family now that her grandmother is gone. Johnathan holds Monique in his arms and tells her she has him. They have a baby together, and even though she wants him to be her partner, he tells Monique that he is not the marrying kind. (Which is so rude!)
Monique continues to mail municipalities for birth records but comes up with nothing. Finally, Monique picks up the phone, confronts her mother, and accuses Elizabeth of kidnapping her.
The movie jumps back to the year 2000, when Monique tries to raise her children, but her kids are working on a family tree, and she doesn’t have good answers about where she came from. Monique is determined to get them the answers they deserve. She hits the streets of NYC with flyers.
Monique actually gets a lead and works with a reporter to get the real story. The slutty auntie has long been divorced from the family and lives in New York. She spills the tea and gives them the address for someone else who knows even more. Apparently, Monique was from a large family who couldn’t handle any more kids, and Elizabeth agreed to watch the baby, but the baby’s mom never came back.
Johnathan gets upset with Monique for spending all of her time looking for family who gave her up and neglecting the family she has. He has a point and a fancy Bluetooth headset! Monique’s mother makes herself at home with her grandkids, but Monique kicks her out. Things get physical, and Elizabeth says she will go to her grave before telling Monique where she is from. History will not repeat itself.
Not Monique using 23 and Me to find her family members!?!?!? Monique asks her uncle to give a DNA sample to the police so they can look into her kidnapping. Monique is working on writing a memoir. The publicity from that helps her find her long-lost sister. Unfortunately, her mother died of a drug OD. Monique reconnects with her long-lost family. (As John Legend’s version of “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” plays)
The end!
STRAY Thoughts
Yaya is so great for Lifetime. Telling stories that, while heartbreaking, deserve a platform.
While I have more questions than answers, this was at least well-acted.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: N/A (Not that kind of Lifetime Movie)
Lifetime Tropes: Baby stealing, rough childhood, searching for birth family
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it Up (Give it a shot!)
Put a Cork in it (Skip it!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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*Photo Credit: © 2025 A&E Television Networks, LLC
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
Great 70’s vibes in the scenes with the no-good family. And the glasses frames and chunky jewelry and outfits!