Sunday was a bittersweet day for Tyler Perry.
The “Gone Girl” star turned 46, but revealed in a Facebook post that his birthday morning started off on an emotional note as he was reminded of the loss of his mother more than five years ago.
“Every morning that I can remember until I was 41, I woke up to the voice of my mother singing Happy Birthday to me. Be it when I was a kid in my room or when I was older and had moved away, she would call on the phone and sing her heart out. How I miss her voice, off key and all… lol,” he wrote, explaining that hearing the traditional birthday song reminds him his beloved mother “isn’t here anymore.”
“Just by natural reflex I woke up this morning, being half asleep, I reached for the phone to see if she had left a message, but then I realized that she died 6 years ago. In the split second that it took me to wake up fully I felt a wave of sadness come over me,” he continued. “Then, I heard her voice in my head saying ‘Baby, count your blessings. God is good.'”
The media mogul — who welcomed son Aman in November 2014 with girlfriend Gelila Bekele – said he turned his sadness around with a “prayer of praise,” thanking God for his multitude of blessings, including not being “homeless anymore,” and his “beautiful son.”
“Needless to say, by the time I got through some of these ‘God thank you’s I was feeling so much better. So on a high. So happy birthday to me!! May God bless you in all you do,” he concluded his post. “May goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life. Thank you for the birthday wishes.”
Happy birthday, Tyler. In honor of Madea, we’re raising a “Hallelujer” for you today!
— Erin O’Sullivan
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