Twas the Friday before Mother’s Day and more than 1,500 gathered in the Hilton Anatole’s Chantilly Ballroom to learn about Maxine Perry at the Genesis Annual Luncheon.
Her 46-year-old son towered on stage recalling how at the age of 17, she had married a man who had built their relationship on lies. The Cadillac he had when visiting her family on the weekends “from his ranch” was a loaner. And there was no ranch. She didn’t discover the truth until the newlyweds were in New Orleans.
The man-boy told of years of love for his mother, his witnessing her being the recipient of abuse and her children’s suffering emotional and physical cruelty.
There were the beatings by this “husband” upon his wife, the sexual abuse of the boy’s pre-teen girlfriend and his own abuse by the “man of the family.” Maxine had tried to escape, but was helpless and returned to a lifetime of domestic violence.
As much as he reflected on the love for his mother, the young man never mentioned the name of the abuser. In fact, at the age of 16, the young man, whose birth name was the abuser’s with “Junior” tacked on, had legally changed his name to Tyler Perry.
But Tyler did not follow either of his parents’ footsteps. He was not to be a victim nor a tormentor. The billionaire entrepreneur told how he had emerged from the years of degradation thanks to his own will and a discussion on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” in which it was suggested that the act of writing was cathartic. He did just that with the result being a musical that had a less-than-great reception. However, he persisted and developed a following that turned into an entertainment empire.
Men and women in the audience were truly moved hearing of the childhood that Tyler had suffered, as they wiped away tears, comforted each other by holding hands and were amazed at the delivery and story. Maxine would have loved this ode. But Maxine died on December 8, 2009, at the age of 64.
Following Tyler’s testimonial and a standing ovation, he was joined on stage by WFAA’s Ron Corning for a conversation.
Ron had the tricky job of transitioning from Tyler’s very moving talk to an informal chat. He did that by asking, “Let’s lighten the mood for a moment. Can we talk about how much money you have?” That brought a smile to Tyler and laughter from the group.
The two then talked about how Tyler’s original goal of taking care of Maxine had been expanded to motivating and inspiring others. He told how his first theatrical production with only 30 people in attendance had cost him his life savings ($12,000). Still, there were people who told him that they understood and related to the performance. In considering the two-decade journey from that first effort to his present situation, he described it as “staggering, staggering.”
Ron asked about Tyler’s 18-month-old son, Aman Tyler Perry, whom Tyler described as his “hero.” He told how when he looked at Aman, he saw himself as a child and “an opportunity to give all the love that I ever had to myself.” Instead of beatings, he shares butterfly kisses with his less-than-two-year-old son.
Ron then raised the question of how Tyler would raise Aman to appreciate having a life with little wants, unlike Tyler’s. Tyler’s response: “Well, he [Aman] was born broke.” That brought laughter from the ballroom of guests. After the laughter died down, Tyler went on to say, “I will not give him everything… I will be there to support him to win his goals, but he has to earn.”
Then Tyler told how Aman’s mother, model/activist Gelila Bekele, is the coach of the family. He gave an example: At Christmas he gave her a yellow diamond earrings. Upon receiving the jewelry, she said they were beautiful, but Tyler sensed something was up and asked if there was a problem. She said while they were beautiful, could they be returned and the money used to help others? A bit dumbstruck, Tyler said, “It doesn’t have to be a choice. We can do both.”
Ron shifted gears and asked about Tyler’s relationship with Oprah on their project “The Haves and The Have Nots” on her OWN network. When she first received his script, she said, “This is too much.” Then she went on to say, “I brought you here to do what you do, so I wanted you to know what I feel.” He stayed the course and the ratings went through the roof.
Returning to the subject of inspiring others, Ron brought up John Schneider, who had starred in the 1980s’ TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Both Tyler and Ron had talked backstage about watching “The Dukes” on Friday nights as young men. Fast-forward to the present day. Tyler not only had cast John in “The Haves and The Have Nots,” but the Louisiana native’s Atlanta-based film production company had inspired former Atlanta-resident John to build his own studio in Louisiana.
Touching on a recent death, Ron asked Tyler about his relationship with Prince, who attended one of Tyler’s performances in 2004 at the Kodak Theater. On his way to the theater, Tyler got a call from Prince, who said, “I hear you’re doing a bit of ‘Purple Rain’ in your show. Do it again and I’m going to sue you… and I need 10 tickets and I’ll be there tonight.” Looking out in the audience that night, Tyler spotted Prince, who was enjoying the show. Struck by a brainstorm, Tyler had a mic taken to Prince, who started singing “Purple Rain.” As Tyler put it, “Worst mistake I ever made. He started singing ‘Purple Rain’ in the middle of MY show. I couldn’t get the audience back. He taught me a royal lesson — never give your microphone to a superstar.”
In closing, Ron asked about Tyler’s future plans. His response was embracing his fears or stepping out of his comfort zone. His next frontier is a recently purchased former Army base [Fort McPherson] in Atlanta. The 33 acres will be the site of the new Tyler Perry Studios with more people being employed. Ron wondered whether the responsibility for so many people was worrisome. Tyler told how “on a prayer table outside one of my rooms are photos of all the children whose parents work for me. Some are newborns, some are in college. So every day when I walk past that table I am reminded that you can’t be selfish at this moment… It is important to me that all those people and all those faces are supported in their dreams … Given this responsibility and given this level of success, there comes this tremendous sense of responsibility that I didn’t necessarily ask for, but that for some reason I’ve been chosen to carry, and what I won’t do is [carry it] selfishly.”
With that, Tyler was whisked out the room. But his inspiration of supporting abused women in search of their dreams remained. Maxine would have been proud.