Tyler Perry Reveals History of Child Abuse

» by Danielle Canada October 6, 2009, 10:40am

Tyler Perry, the successful playwright, actor and writer is revealing to fans a tightly hidden secret from his childhood. His upcoming movie Precious co-produced by Oprah tells the story of a teenager that survives sexual, verbal and physical abuse. Now Perry's revealed in an email to his fans that he endured a similar situation when he was child.

He sent out an email Monday telling the story of several times when he was physically and sexually abused. He says he was abused physically by his father and grandmother and sexually abused by a female neighbor.

He recounts a painful memory of being beaten by his father saying:

“He got the vacuum cleaner extension cord and trapped me in a room and beat me until the skin was coming off my back. To this day, I don't know what would make a person do something like that to a child.”

He spoke of a time when his grandmother tried to cure his allergies and bathed him in ammonia.

“Ain't nothing wrong with that damn boy - he just got germs on him. Stop wasting all that money," she said. She came and got me out of the living room leaving my Matchbox cars on the floor. She said she was going to kill these germs on me once and for all. She gave me a bath in ammonia.”

Tyler also mentions being sexually abused by an unnamed man that attended his church. He recalls that after the man died, his family reached out to Perry to pay for his funeral but he told them “no.”

“I quickly said no, but I wish I would have said yes. There is something so powerful to me in burying the man that molested me. I would have dug the grave myself.”