Image
Tyler Perry Tells Gayle King His Legacy Will Be the Shelter He’s Building for Women and LGBTQ Yo
By Oz Online | Published on October 13, 2019

The housing complex will be part of his brand new 330-acre movie studio.

First Tyler Perry recently made history with the opening of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta—and now he’s paying it forward.

During a CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King, our editor at large asked the 50-year-old entertainment mogul what his legacy will be. Besides his new studio, Perry revealed that he hopes he’s remembered for the shelter he’s building at the studio that will house “trafficked women, girls, homeless women, and LGBTQ youth who are put out and displaced.”

Perry explained that the compound will be “a beautiful place, right here somewhere on these 330 acres, where they’re trained in the business and they become self sufficient.” He added: “They live in nice apartments, there’s daycare, there’s all of these wonderful things to re-enter society and pay it forward again. That’s what I hope to do soon!”

In that same interview, Perry spoke candidly about his own past and how his journey from being homeless to a movie mogul inspired him to create classic films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea’s Family Reunion. Now, his repertoire includes more than 48 movies, plays, and TV shows—and his new Atlanta studio is larger than those of Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox and Sony combined.

“This entire journey of telling stories was born out of of pain, born out of heartache, born out of being an abused kid who could go inside of his head and create a world and imagination,” Perry said. “That same abused kid watching his mother…getting beat and there’s nothing he can do, my desire and heart to make her laugh and feel better was so strong. And you know, if I could make a joke or if I could imitate her or my aunt and make her laugh, or some of the women she played cards with on Friday nights, all of that was so powerful and so important to me.”

Because of all the hardships Perry has had in his life, seeing his studio’s name on a highway sign felt like an incredibly full circle moment.

“The first time I saw it, it was next to Sylvan Road—which I remember, when I moved to Atlanta, I moved off of Sylvan Road with my cousin and got put out a house—I had no money, that kinda thing…” he said. “Then to see my name next to that moment, I just—it took my breath away…it was really powerful.”

Perry’s Atlanta movie studio complex was built on a former confederate Army base and features a dozen sound stages, each named after Black Hollywood icons—including, of course, Oprah Winfrey.

Read the original article on Oprah Magazine, here.

ImageImage

Share this Post

Image