By Chiamaka
As soon as a picture of his young self flashed across the screen, he started to tear up, he tried to control it but his emotions betrayed him and the tears flowed.
“That’s hard for me to look at. I feel like I died as a child. One particular beating I will never forget is the time my father brutally whipped me with a vacuum cord.
“To this day, I don’t know why he did it. But I remember him cornering me in a room and hitting me with this vacuum cleaner cord. He would just not stop. There are all these welts on [me], the flesh that’s coming from my bone, and I had to wait for him to go to sleep. When he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt’s house, and she was mortified when she saw it.
“After another vicious beating from my father I will not forget is the one I blacked out for three days. “This one in particular, he wanted me to change a tyre.” As I worked to loosen the bolts, my father screamed and cursed at me.
“My father couldn’t get the bolts off either because they were rusted. He looked up at me, and there was a smirk on my face. All I remember is him tackling me, and I remember holding onto a chain-link fence so tight, my hands are bloody and he’s hitting me.
“My mother and uncle tried to help but they couldn’t prevent the inevitable.”
Today, many people see only the fame, the amazing movies, the Hollywood parties, and the awards and feats achieved by the actor, director, writer and producer; Tyler Perry, without knowing the circumstances he endured to get to the top.
To Tyler his childhood was a ‘Living hell’. For years, he suffered brutal physical abuse at the hands of his father and severe sexual abuse from several adults. Inside or outside the home, Tyler said he never felt safe.
He revealed that as a child to endure the consistent violent beatings, shouting, name-callings his only escape was his imagination of a beautiful park his mother and aunt took him too where he had fun.
Things got so bad for little Tyler at a point that he attempted suicide to end his difficult situation.
Born Emmitt Perry Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tyler Perry, today has built a highly successful path in the entertainment industry for himself.
At 16, he changed his first name to Tyler to separate himself from his father. Though he dropped out of high school, he eventually earned his General Educational Development (GED). On his journey to professional discovery, he accepted a series of unfulfilling jobs before discovering his true passion.
Today, despite all the challenges life threw at Tyler, he has become an A-list media mogul as Forbes officially crowned him a billionaire recently. Though in 2010, Tyler was also named the second highest-earning man in Hollywood by Forbes magazine.
This is a breakdown of how Forbes calculated his milestone net worth:
• $320 million for his entire library of movies, TV shows, plays, etc., as he owns 100% of the content he’s created.
• $300 million in cash and investments.
• $280 million for Tyler Perry Studios, which sits on 330 acres in Georgia.
• $60 million for his equity stake in BET+, the streaming service that debuted last year.
• 40 million in homes and toys.
A sum-up of all these is a whopping $1 billion.
The filmmaker owns the entirety of his creative output, including more than 1,200 episodes of television series, 22 feature films and at least two dozen stage plays, as well as a 330-acre studio lot at the edge of Atlanta’s southern limits.
Tyler also has received several huge profile awards in Hollywood. In 2019, he was awarded the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star and BET Ultimate Icon Award.
In 2017, he was honoured the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Humanitarian. In 2005, his movie ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’ won him the Outstanding Actor in a theatrical film. This is just to mention a few of his awards.
Tyler’s triumph proves that we all have a story to tell the world. I believe no great person in life had it all smooth and rosy in their journey of success.
If Little Tyler can rise above his traumatic childhood to become one of the world’s billionaires. You too can.
So why give up?
Keep pushing, make the world know your name and story. Prior to Perry’s breakthrough, no one in Hollywood knew his name.
Start the week with much positivity no matter the situation you are battling at the moment.
You will be victorious! Tell yourself that and ensure you are.
Have a triumphant week!
