{"id":13346,"date":"2018-05-22T17:55:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T21:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=13346"},"modified":"2018-05-22T17:55:44","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T21:55:44","slug":"tyler-perry-found-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/05\/tyler-perry-found-god.html","title":{"rendered":"How Tyler Perry Found God"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joe<\/a>
Joe Seer\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actor, writer, director and producer are a just a few of Tyler Perry\u2019s titles and accolades. Hi smost successful movies have grossed more than $600 million at the box office. He also created and produced several successful television shows. While many people are familiar with his work on screen, many people don\u2019t know how big a role faith has influenced his work.<\/p>\n

Perry\u2019s childhood was horrific. He was physically abused by his father and a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of several adults inside and outside the home.<\/p>\n

There was one particular beating that he still lives with. It was the time his father brutally whipped him with a vacuum cord.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day, I don\u2019t 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\u2019s coming from my bone, and I had to wait for him to go to sleep,\u201d Perry told Oprah. \u201cWhen he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt\u2019s house, and she was mortified when she saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was another vicious beating from his father that Perry recounts. It was so bad that he blacked out for three days.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played mind games with me,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

In this particular situation, his father asked him to change a tire. As he tried to loosen the bolts, his father screamed and cursed at him. Even his mother and uncle tried to help him, but they couldn\u2019t stop the inevitable from happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father couldn\u2019t get the bolts off either because they were rusted,\u201d Perry said. \u201cHe 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\u2019s hitting me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry was dying inside. He lived in such fear of his father as a child that he attempted suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018What is the point of living,\u2019\u201d he said in an interview with Oprah. \u201cMy 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\u2019t know where I\u2019d be right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry turned to God at an early age and made faith his refuge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a Christian, I am a believer, and I know had I not been a person of faith, I couldn\u2019t be here in this place, and I wouldn\u2019t be walking the path I\u2019m on now,\u201d Perry shared with Beliefnet. \u201cAnd I think the greater good of the path I\u2019m on now is to teach people to learn to forgive and move on, in a way that\u2019s done through the healing power of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry is a devout Christian and faith shows in all his work. Whether it\u2019s his popular character \u201cMadea\u201d dropping lessons of faith in movies and plays, or scenes that show characters come forward publicly to make their commitment to Christ, he always finds a way to bring faith into his work. \u00a0Perry has also said that he\u2019s \u201cnot afraid to have a character say, \u201cI am Christian,\u201d or \u201cI believe in God,\u201d which really speaks to his strong faith.<\/p>\n

Many of Perry\u2019s characters on stage and in film touch on faith in some way. His character, Madea is one of them. She knows nothing about Salvation, but because she is so funny she\u2019s been able to draw so many people in to listen to what she has to say, Perry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve been able to do with my character, Madea, and the other characters, with the jokes, is use it as an aesthetic to get to the heart and soul of real issues. And what I\u2019ve found on stage over the years is that, while making people laugh, I can drop in pearls of wisdom. That\u2019s like tilling the soil for the weeds to be planted. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve tried to do, to plant seeds that will grow into good situations, seeds that will grow into abundant life for many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Perry is a media powerhouse, building an entertainment empire that consists of successful films, plays and a best-selling book. But even in his success, he never lost sight of God and his faith. \u00a0Faith continues to be a recurring theme in his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily and faith are both very important to me, and forgiveness,\u201d Perry said. \u201cI think that with everything I\u2019ve done, in the end, whoever the central character is, they would find a way to forgive, because that\u2019s really important to me. Forgiveness is important in families, especially when there are so many secrets that need to be healed \u2013 for the most part, every family\u2019s got them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forgiveness is a central tenant in Christianity and also in Perry\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Forgiveness] is very important to me because I grew up the first 28 years of my life, very unhappy\u2026.\u201d Perry said. \u201cIt was at that time that I forgave my father for a lot of the things that had been done, and my life changed, and I learned how powerful it is, and how, in order to be forgiven, you have to forgive others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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