Tyler Perry Opens Up About Childhood Abuse

Tyler Perry is one of the big names behind the new film about abuse and incest, “Precious,” and in a blog on his personal Web page, the “Madea” star revealed there are some very personal reasons he got behind the film.

Perry, who wrote the blog post less than a month after his 40th birthday, which occurred on Sept. 13, said watching the film brought back not only memories of pain, but also a deep appreciation for having survived an abusive childhood.

“I watched [Precious’] mother be unusually cruel to her and I realized at that moment that a large part of my childhood had just played out before my eyes,” Perry wrote of the film he signed on to Executive Produce with Oprah Winfrey, the proceeds of which are going to various charities. “It hit me so hard, I sat there in tears realizing that somehow, by the grace of God, I made it through. My tears were tears of joy, being thankful that I made it.”

In his open and extremely revealing letter, Perry recounted details of his alleged abuse at the hands of his father, his paternal grandmother and alleged sexual abuse at the hands of neighbors. And he also explained how he was able to survive.

“I was asked recently how I made it through all of this… and my answer to that is…I know for a fact that there is a GOD,” he wrote. “When my father would say or do those things to me, I would hear this voice inside of me say, ‘That’s not true’ or, ‘Don’t believe that.’”

Perry explained he came out on the other side of abuse by learning how to forgive.

“To know that the little boy that I was went through all that — he went through and made it. Then me, as a man…I have to take on the responsibility of forgiving all of those people. I owe it to that little boy that I was and, more than that, I owe it to the man that I am,” he wrote.

To read more of Perry’s blog, click HERE.