The famed producer behind the popular Madea movies, #1 box-office dramedies and stage plays opens up about the painful abuse he experienced as a child to his father. Tyler Perry, born Emmitt Perry, Jr., changed his name to distance himself from his father.
Perry recounted a few of those disturbing revelations on his web site's blog after realizing an upcoming movie he's working on conjured up some of the raw emotions from his past. "I'm tired of holding this in," Perry wrote on his site,"so I've decided to give some away."
One night when his mother was gone, Perry stated, his drunken father "got the vacuum cleaner extension cord and trapped me in a room and beat me until the skin was coming off my back."
Perry also wrote that his father, a construction worker, constantly used profane insults at him and belittled him until he turned 19.
Perry has since forgiving his father from his abuse. Attempts to reach his father for comment, according to CNN, were unsuccessful.
Not as publicized as the physical and verbal abuse, Perry also spoke about child molestation horrors he received from a neighborhood woman at the age of 10. He also spoke of a church-goer who molested him as a kid. The man died broke, according to Perry's statements, and Perry was asked by the family to help pay for the funeral. "I quickly said no, but I wish I would have said yes. There is something so powerful to me in burying the man that molested me," Perry wrote. "I would have dug the grave myself."
Precious, a movie about an illiterate, obese Harlem girl who is abused, hits theaters this fall. The movie, also starring Mariah Carey, will be produced by Perry along with talk show mogul and internationally-known philanthropist Oprah Winfrey.
[TALKIN' ABOUT IT]
'Madea' actor-director Tyler Perry reveals history of childhood abuse, molestation on Web site [NY Daily News.com]
Tyler Perry's Messages [Official Web site]
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