Tyler Perry's Mabel Simmons, a.k.a. Madea, is one of the most memorable characters in
movies today.
Perry has featured this gun-toting granny in a slew of films since Madea's cinematic
debut in 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, but there still may be a lot you don't know
about her.
Let's dive right into the fabulous world of Madea — and the man who created her.
Oprah's influence
Perry has been open about his extremely rough childhood living with a physically and mentally
abusive father.
As a young adult, Perry heard Oprah Winfrey say that writing about one's traumas could
be cathartic, and he ended up doing just that.
According to CinemaBlend, he worked on writing his first play, which focused on childhood
abuse, for six years and even lived in his car for periods of time before it finally
became a hit in 1998.
The birth of Madea
When Perry started out as a playwright in the mid-'90s, he wrote plays that had music
and melodrama, but no Madea.
She showed up in his third play, I Can Do Bad All by Myself.
Perry told Winfrey in an interview that originally, Madea was only supposed to be in the play
for five minutes, but when the lead actress didn't show up, Perry expanded the character.
He explained,
"Five minutes before the show, I put on the costume and stood at the mirror for the first
time.
I'm saying, damn, are you really going to do this?
Then the show started and I had no choice — they pushed me out onstage."
Madea was a little different in the very first performances, mainly seated in one spot.
But according to Perry, when he finally stood up and moved around the stage, the audience
laughed and gave him a standing ovation.
"Hallelujah!"
Madea's roots
The roots of the tall, sassy ex-stripper grandma came from Perry's abusive childhood.
He shared with Essence that his mother would take him to beauty parlors to keep him away
from his father's wrath, so he saw adult women in a way that many children don't.
He explained,
"The nurturing part of Madea comes from my mother, who would open the doors of our home
to you no matter who you were.
[...] My aunt inspired the pistol-packing, the wig and the voice."
Eddie Murphy's film Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps also influenced Perry.
Just like Murphy, Perry would go on to play multiple roles in the Madea films.
Perry told Winfrey,
"I have to thank Eddie Murphy, 'cause after I saw him do the Klumps, I said, 'I'm going
to try my hand at a female character.'
[...] I need to write him a check.
Say thank you."
Stage versus screen
Most Madea movies are based on one of Perry's touring plays, but there are differences between
the stage and screen versions.
Not only do the plays have a musical aspect the films don't, but the Madea in the theater
was even more outrageous, especially in the early days, with more gun use and pot smoking.
He eventually toned down the character a little because of children watching.
He told Creative Loafing,
"I realized how many children were paying attention, so I wanted to her to be a little
more responsible.
[...] But for the most part, she's pretty much stayed true to the same old pain in the
ass."
​A Chris Rock joke
Most Madea movies come from Perry's imagination, but one of them was Chris Rock's idea.
According to Variety, Perry had wanted to move onto other projects outside of Madea,
but then he saw a gag in the 2015 film Top Five in which Chris Rock's character is losing
out at the box office to the fictional Boo!
A Madea Halloween.
Perry and Lionsgate decided to make a real movie with that very theme and title, and
it was a huge hit in 2016.
(the universal reaction to clowns)
Big breaks
Some Hollywood stars have gotten their big break by being in a Madea movie.
Shemar Moore was relatively unknown when he was cast in Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
Shortly after, he landed the series Criminal Minds, where he stayed for over a decade.
Sofia Vergara appeared in Meet the Browns and Madea Goes to Jail shortly before she
started her longtime run on ABC's Modern Family.
And Taraji P. Henson credits Perry, who cast her in I Can Do Bad All by Myself with helping
her to ask for more money in Hollywood.
In her 2016 memoir, Around the Way Girl, she wrote,
"I was grateful for the work, but even more, I'm grateful to Tyler for putting me on the
road to being paid my worth."
Backlash
According to People magazine, Spike Lee, as well as others, have criticized the character
for buffoonery — and for portraying the black community in a bad light.
Perry told CNN that those critics miss the point of the themes in the Madea films, saying,
"They miss the messages of empowerment.
[...] It's broad, it's over the top.
Great.
Fine.
I get it.
But how can you miss the message of forgiveness?
How can you miss the messages of empowerment?"
"Do you see the millions of people that are coming to see this?
Why the hell would I be worried about a Spike Lee or anybody else, they can go straight
to hell."
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