Tyler Perry Reveals Childhood Trauma & ‘Intensive Therapy’
Tyler Perry accepted the Paley Honors Award on Wednesday, December. 4. This happened at the Paley Honors Fall Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and he gave a big speech as he thanked people for the honor. However, his speech was a tough one, as he spoke about childhood trauma and intensive therapy.
Here is what Tyler had to say about his past and working through his trauma.
Tyler Perry Opens Up To People About His Past Trauma
Tyler Perry accepted the Paley Honors Award on Wednesday and said he was honored to win it. He then opened up about his road to success and how it was not an easy path. Instead, it was filled with trauma and intensive therapy.
Tyler Perry apologized to the press for not being able to finish his press line earlier. However, he then got down to business and delivered a very personal speech that moved people. Perry said he had to stop the interviews because one press member showed him a photo of him at five that his late mother had taken of him.
“It’s been 15 years, almost to the day, that she passed, so this time of year is really, really difficult for me,” Tyler said (via PEOPLE). “When he showed me that picture, I want to apologize to you guys because I lost it. I couldn’t even finish the press line. But I’m here.”
He then opened up about his mental health to the audience.
Tyler Perry Has Been Doing Intensive Therapy
Tyler Perry admitted that he did something recently, at the age of 54, that he had never done before. “I went into this intensive therapy in Arizona. And being in that moment in Arizona, I was able to really start to deal with something: the effects of trauma in my life.”
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Tyler said that he was once suicidal. He also said his earliest memory was as a toddler and visiting his mother and sisters in jail. He asked his aunt about this, and she told him that his mom had tried to leave his dad. “So he reported the car stolen, and we all were arrested and sat in the jail, waiting for him to come.”
He said he was a young child who watched a man beat his mother “all the way back to Louisiana.” Perry then said his neighbor’s mother r*ped him and that a man at his church also s*xually assaulted him. He said it made him “be stagnant in my ability to fully love.”
He told the story of a science teacher who asked him if he could “dissect” the hamster pet he brought to school to show classmates. Perry said the teacher then killed the hamster in front of him, and he said no one ever asked him what happened to his pet.
“It was a memory that I didn’t even know was there until I was in this therapy session,” he said. “I saw myself walking home with this empty cage and realizing that no one asked me what happened.”
“But I survived, and I’m here. So I think that’s enough to allow myself to be celebrated.”
What are your thoughts on Tyler Perry opening up about his own mental health concerns and admission that he realized he needed therapy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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