Called "a playwright with a Midas touch for an uninhibited urban comedy," by the New York Times ' Marcia A. Cole, Tyler Perry came to the attention of critics across the United States when his play Diary of a Mad Black Woman was made into a popular movie. Perry had become a playwright when all odds were against him. He raised himself above an abusive past and followed his dreams with unswerving determination. By 2005 he was a millionaire and a much sought-after writer, actor, director, and producer. Perry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 13, 1969. He was a middle child, with two older sisters and a younger brother. According to Margena A. Christian in Jet, "He says that he endured years of abuse as a child by his father 'whose answer to everything was to beat it out of you.' Perry says he would 'go places in his mind' following beatings." At one point, unable to take it anymore Perry attempted to kill himself, slashing his wrists in an action that he has called a cry for attention. "I was pretty young and totally frustrated," he told Christian. After the incident he happened to be watching The Oprah Winfrey Show and heard about how sometimes troubles in life could be worked through if you wrote them down—a form of release that could be very cathartic and therapeutic. Perry gave it a try and discovered that he not only liked it, but that he was good at it, too. His first writings were in the form of letters to himself. Through them he came to terms with his childhood and even brought himself to the point where he could forgive his father for all the anguish he caused Perry's family. Perry was quoted by Zondra Hughes in Ebony as having said, "The things that I went through as a kid were horrendous. And I carried that into my adult life. I didn't have a catharsis for my childhood pain, most of us don't, and until I learned how to forgive those people and let it go, I was unhappy." With a newfound skill and a more positive attitude, Perry was ready to take on his future. Read more: http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Le-Ra/Perry- Tyler.html#ixzz53TJXNGYY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tyler Perry is a media mogul sitting at the top of the A-list. He's produced more than 20 plays, movies and TV shows and has rubbed elbows with entertainment elite. In 2010, Tyler was also named the second highest-earning man in Hollywood by Forbes magazine. But Tyler's life wasn't always so fortunate. For years, he says he suffered brutal physical abuse at the hands of his father and severe sexual abuse at the hands of several adults. Inside or outside the home, Tyler says he never felt safe. Now, for the first time, Tyler reveals in-depth details of his traumatic childhood and shares his personal story—a story of strength, power and, ultimately, triumph. Though they're close friends, Oprah says she never realized how brutal Tyler's childhood really was. When she asks Tyler to describe the early years, his answer says it all. "[It was] a living hell," Tyler says. As a picture of a young Tyler flashes across the screen, tears flood his eyes. "That's hard for me to look at," he says. "I feel like I died as a child." To endure the violent beatings, shouting and name-calling, Tyler says he used his imagination to escape. "I could go to this park [in my mind] that my mother and my aunt had taken me to. ... I'm there in this park running and playing, and it was such a good day," he says. "So, every time somebody was doing something to me that was horrible, that was awful, I could go to this park in my mind until it was over.” One particular beating Tyler says he'll never forget is the time his father brutally whipped him 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," Tyler says. "When he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt's house, and she was mortified when she saw it. Tyler's aunt Jerry she says he didn't say a word when got to her house, but he was crying. "I lifted his shirt, and there were five huge welts—long and they had lines in them, and they almost broke his skin," she says. "I got very upset. "And what did you do, Aunt Jerry?" Oprah asks. "I picked up a gun," she says. "I'm not proud of the fact, but I did and I went around the corner to their house. I met [Tyler's father] on the sidewalk, and I pointed the gun at him." That same day, Jerry says she told Tyler's mother, Maxine, that she should never leave Tyler alone with his father again. "I knew that he couldn't stay there with him," Jerry says. "And she took him everywhere with her after that." After another vicious beating from his father, Tyler says he blacked out for three days. "He played these mind games with me," Tyler says. "This one in particular, he wanted me to change a tire." As Tyler worked to loosen the bolts, he says his father screamed and cursed at him. Even Tyler's mother and uncle tried to help him...but they couldn't prevent the inevitable. "[My father] couldn't get the bolts off [either] because they were rusted," Tyler says. "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.” Every day, Tyler says he lived in fear that something would set his father off. It got so bad, young Tyler took drastic measures. One day, he says he slit his wrists and tried to commit suicide. "I thought, 'What is the point of living?'" he says. "My mother was truly my saving grace, because she would take me to church with her. I would see my mother smiling in the choir, and I wanted to know this God that made her so happy. If I had not had that faith in my life, I don't know where I would be right now.” In addition to the brutal physical abuse, Tyler says he also suffered severe sexual abuse at the hands of four different adults. …Unrelenting abuse made it nearly impossible for Tyler to trust adults around him. Aside from his aunt Jerry, there was one other woman he loved and turned to—his mother. Tyler says his mother, Maxine, was also beaten and threatened by his father, and she even tried to leave him when Tyler was very young. One day, Maxine packed up the children into a Cadillac and drove to California to escape. Tyler's father reported the car stolen, and his mother was arrested. They were driven back to Louisiana by Tyler's uncle, and Tyler says his father beat his mother the whole ride home. "My mother wasn't strong like my aunt," Tyler says. "She was just very passive. She did not have that backbone to stand up for herself, so certainly she couldn't stand up for me." Tyler's mother passed away December 8, 2009, and now that she's gone, Tyler says he's willing to talk about the abuse he endured. "She suffered so much horror in her life—surviving breast cancer, the abuse from my father, the belittling, the beatings. And I just could not be a source of pain," he says. "I knew if I spoke about this, that she would be hurt. So I didn't. ... I feel this tremendous sense of, 'Now it's time for me to take care of me and get some of this stuff out of me and be free from it.’" …”All of these people [who had harmed him] had given me something to carry," Tyler says. "I think that everyone who's been abused, there is a string to the puppet master, and they're holding you hostage to your behaviors and what you do. At some point, you have to be responsible for them. What I started to do is untie the strings and chase them down to where they came from. And I was able to free myself and understand that even though these things happened to me, it was not me.” Tyler's father is still alive today, and Tyler says he feels no remorse for abusing his son. After sending out an emotional message to his fans last year revealing parts of his painful past and the power of forgiveness, he expected a phone call from his father. What he got was very different. Tyler: He sends a message through my brother saying, "If I had beat your ass one more time, you probably would have been Barack Obama." Oprah: Wow. Tyler: Here I am trying to heal from it, and that's what he sends me. Oprah: And yet, I know you still take care of him.