Who is the man behind Madea?
How did he go from poor playwright to Tinseltown titan?
Find out as we look at the Truth About Tyler Perry.
#10 Arduous Childhood While he’s known best for his portrayal
as the stern, yet loving, maternal figure Madea, the famed writer/director/actor Tyler
Perry endured a very difficult childhood.
Verbally and physically mistreated by his own father until the age of 19, Perry endured
a hellacious upbringing to become the man he is today.
The situation with his dad didn’t just affect him either as his mother and sisters had to
survive a similar treatment.
Perry was so troubled by these early years that he spent a period of his life on the
streets, but he cites religion as being his saving grace and the catalyst in turning things
around.
#9 Motherly Motivation One of the best parts of Perry’s childhood
came from his own mother, Willie Maxine Perry.
While his relationship with his father was obviously strained, it was his mom who came
through as his main role model.
Through her compassionate parenting, Perry found his greatest supporter growing up as
she made sure to take him to church every week and helped sculpt his worldview despite
their unfortunate home life.
Ms. Perry cared so deeply for her children that she at one point would try to escape
the cruelty of her husband by moving the children from their home in New Orleans to California.
But along the way, Perry’s father would report their vehicle stolen, having the entire
family jailed until he could come out west and pick them up.
Still, his mother would persist in attempting to give Perry the best possible life she could.
So when lightning struck after seeing Eddie Murphy’s performance in Nutty Professor
II, and the writer would begin developing his first original female character, there
was one obvious choice to use as the foundation of what would become Madea.
Through this, Perry has immortalized his mother, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 64,
with one of the most iconic, recurring characters in Hollywood history.
#8 Reinforced Stereotypes Entertaining millions around the world, Perry’s
works are often endearing tales of black individuals and families struggling with real-world problems.
He views the majority of these stories as being good-natured, utilizing his famed character
Madea as a medium to discuss topics such as faith, forgiveness, love, family and religion.
But not everyone is head over heels for his characters as many have criticized his creations
as being offensively stereotypical.
One of his most vocal critics is the acclaimed, politically-conscious writer, director, and
producer Spike Lee.
In various interviews, Lee has called out Perry’s works for portraying black people
with an air of “buffoonery,” accusing the filmmaker of setting the public depiction
of black Americans in media back decades.
And Lee isn’t alone as many journalists, have also voiced displeasure at the amplification
of black stereotypes seemingly appearing in his films.
Madea is at the center of many of these critical commentaries, targeting her loud, angry, and
religious behavior as indicative of his cliche vision.
On top of that, people like culture critic and writer Jamilah Lemieux have addressed
hackneyed character concepts such as emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women consistently
appearing in his catalog of stories.
Despite these various accusations, Perry has largely shrugged off his critics, believing
them to not understand the audience with which he’s attempting to connect.
He cares so little for the criticism, in fact, that when he was asked about Spike Lee’s
comments, Perry told Lee to “go straight to hell.”
#7 Prosperity Religion A devout Christian, Tyler Perry almost always
works themes of God, religion, and faith into his productions, a factor that has helped
him connect with a large portion of his fanbase.
So it should come as no surprise that outside of his on-screen projects, Perry supports
a number of religious organizations.
Though many of his fans would most likely be in favor of such donations and vocal backing,
some critics have found the specific organizations he aids to have questionable fundraising tactics
to say the least.
Many of the ministries Perry has shown support for, either monetarily or through speaking
out in their defense, practice what’s known as prosperity theology.
These types of religious groups convince their congregation, who are typically vulnerable
and poverty-stricken, that donating to them will equate to future financial success.
In short, these groups are thought to preach for profit, thus taking advantage of desperate,
yet faithful, individuals within the community.
One such instance of support came when Perry donated a million dollars to T.D. Jakes’
ministry, The Potter’s House.
But he didn’t just give money, as the pastor invited Perry on stage to give his own sermon...as
well as bless Jakes and invoke the holy spirit in him.
The donation was recorded and spread online to millions of viewers, evoking reactions
ranging from praise and appreciation to declaring the entire video a sham.
Yet, the critiques of Perry’s religious ventures continue to fall on deaf ears as
he has yet to respond to them.
#6 From the Stage to the Screen Long before he began making million-dollar-grossing
films, Perry found his start in theatre, applying his own account of his life experiences as
fodder for plays and musicals.
He created his first musical, title “I Know I’ve Changed,” in 1992.
The first attempt at staging the performance independently was a flop and incredibly costly
for the man who had yet to make his fortune.
Still, determined to stay on course, Perry continued to work hard at succeeding on stage.
Over the next few years, he would build a strong relationship with his church, so when
he got another chance to perform the play in 1998 at a church repurposed as a theatre,
it was a completely different outcome.
Support and praise of his work launched him from this small venue to the prestigious Fox
Theatre in Atlanta.
From these experiences, Perry would also find his most profitable creation in Madea.
What was originally meant to be just a side character in a five minute scene would become
much more one night when the main actress of the play didn’t show.
Perry would end up playing Madea throughout the entirety of the play, opening his eyes
to the potential popularity of the character.
Since then, the filmmaker has enjoyed a skyrocketing ride to success.
His first feature film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”, debuted at the top spot in
U.S. Theaters.
This crowd-pleasing inauguration to the film industry laid the groundwork for titles that
would follow like “Madea’s Family Reunion”, “Daddy’s Little Girls”, “Why Did I
Get Married”, and many others.
To date, Perry’s films have grossed more than 976 million dollars.
And considering he keeps his filming budget near 20 million dollars per project, the financial
value of his work is undeniable!
#5 Union Disputes From the big screen to the living room, Perry
has found major success.
When he made the jump to television, his initial sitcom House of Payne seemed to do spectacular
running for a total of 5 years, 8 seasons, and 254 episodes by its end in 2012.
In 2009, though, as Perry began to launch a spin-off for the popular comedy, he made
a decision that damaged his public perception.
Refusing to meet the contractual demands of four writers, the creator instead chose to
fire them after having written hundreds of episodes for his prior show.
This drew the ire of the Writers Guild of America, who filed unfair labor practice charges
against Tyler Perry Studios as a result, citing his bargaining in “bad faith”.
Perry settled the dispute within a month, and made a change to his writing rooms moving
forward to prevent another issue...by eliminating them altogether!
From then on, Perry has been the sole writer for his works.
His issues with unions wouldn’t end there, though, as he would also decline requests
to sign union contracts for actors in 2015 looking to perform in his play Madea on the
Run.
Due to this choice, two actor unions would ban their members from working with Perry
on this play, viewing this as an assertion of his unwillingness to take care of his actors.
#4 Averse To Criticism This entertainment mogul has endured a lot
in life and through his charitable works and attempts to grant a voice to the people in
his community he came to know growing up, it’s obvious he maintains some semblance
of humility.
However, when it comes to criticism, Perry has a reputation for throwing that humble
attitude out the window.
When addressing critics, Perry has taken a number of routes to discount their opinion,
often finding ways to justify his own views on the matter.
One example is when, during an interview, he was questioned on how his portrayal of
black people was seen by many as to have negative implications on the view of black americans
at large.
In response, Perry accused critics who had questioned is ethics as being uncomfortable
with his use of overweight black characters, emphasizing their grievances as being focused
on weight.
In doing so, he framed dissenting opinions as if they were bias against heavy-set people,
going so far as to say, “I was so offended because my aunt’s fat.
My mother’s fat.
My cousins are fat.”
Perry has often made headlines for his tendency to reframe complaints to paint his critics
as villains, and sometimes outright ignores the basis for critiques all together!
The filmmaker has feuded with directors, journalists, and other prominent figures in the black community
over the moral responsibility, or lack thereof, in his productions.
#3 Oprah Inspired Before Perry began his life in show business,
the would-be millionaire was down and out when he happened to catch an episode of The
Oprah Winfrey Show.
In this episode, he would hear a piece of advice that would end up changing the course
of his life.
On the show, she told of how cathartic writing can be, encouraging Perry to begin writing
down his own life experiences.
As the personal information flowed from his pen, he made sure to use pseudonyms for the
individuals he wrote about just in case his private journal was found.
Before he knew it, he had all the tools he needed to craft his first play!
Fast forward beyond his time as a playwright and Perry has since gotten to know and befriend
Oprah personally.
But her inspiration didn’t end with that fateful episode.
Perry would watch and learn from her business sense as he started constructing an empire
of his own.
Launching his own production studio in 2006 self-titled as Tyler Perry Studios, he went
on to credit Oprah as a mentor.
Perry cited her ability to own and build her own brand as a major influence inciting to
him to do the same.
So when Perry brought three new series to the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2012, it seemed
as if this would be a perfect match.
#2 Oprah Issues For ten plus years, Oprah and Tyler Perry
enjoyed a close, profitable friendship, working closely together on a number of projects before
Perry would leave TBS to join OWN.
But the stability of their partnership would only last so long as disputes over his programs
began to arise.
According to some reports, Perry grew agitated at the criticism of his writing with Oprah
going so far as to suggest bringing in a team of writers to assist with his scripts.
The acclaimed director took offense at her attempts to interfere with his projects.
An unnamed source told reporters that he became extremely defensive, telling Oprah, “Aren’t
the shows delivering ratings of the network?
Well, then let me do what I do and you can keep your focus group research to yourself.”
But her own motivations weren’t totally invalid.
Oprah had brought in a focus group to evaluate problems with his shows.
When Perry left TBS, it wasn’t due to personal choice as much as floundering ratings and
his inability to take criticism from the network.
So when Oprah brought him to her network, she was essentially bailing him out of a jam...and
yet Perry supposedly remained unchanged!
All parties have denied any sort of feud between the two, but when is contract expired with
OWN, Perry would sign a deal with Viacom instead of returning.
Whatever happened, the pair certainly aren’t the all-star team they once were.
#1 Net Worth The empire Tyler Perry has crafted has flourished
from his days in theatre, skyrocketing his net worth to an estimated 600 million dollars!
His fortune has provided a comfortable life that’s a far cry from his poverty-ridden
origins.
In 2007, Perry spent a fraction of his wealth on a beautiful 17-acre property in a neighborhood
of Atlanta, beginning a venture into real estate.
The Hollywood heavyweight would go on to purchase the 58-acre Dean Gardens in 2010, 11-hundred
acres of land in New Manchester, Georgia in 2013, and in 2017, a house in LA’s Mulholland
Estates.
While unmarried, Perry’s millions support his long-time girlfriend Gelila Bekele and
their son.
But overall, the majority of his earnings go towards furthering his various projects,
donating to causes, and bettering his communities.
Today’s featured comment comes from Ericka Jones and our The Truth About Eminem video!
Thanks for your comment Ericka, be sure to comment below on this video and you might
be featured in a future video!