*Tyler Perry was celebrated at The Paley Center for Media’s annual fall gala, held in the Wilshire Hotel ballroom on Dec. 4, where he was honored for his contributions to film and television.
Industry icons such as Oprah Winfrey, Kerry Washington, and Debbie Allen attended the event, alongside America’s princess Meghan Markle, Nicole Avant, and Ted Sarandos, to present Perry with the Paley Honors Award, ESSENCE reports.
The evening highlighted Perry’s impact on entertainment and his compassionate leadership, with guests including LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Cookie Johnson, Tina Knowles, and Tika Sumpter. The gathering was a tribute to Perry’s influence and legacy, with Winfrey sharing a heartfelt speech about Perry.
“He is a giant among men. He has a ginormous spirit that is guided by a divine hand. Let me tell you the secret to Tyler Perry is that Tyler Perry loves God, and though a team of esteemed advisors surrounds him, he makes no move ever without consulting with God first,” she said.
“So when you look at his life and its trajectory from a little boy, a little boy who was constantly, consistently every day of his life, demeaned, rejected, beaten and emotionally abused by his father so severely that at times he disassociated or blacked out,” Oprah continued.
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“Tyler Perry suffered the kind of childhood that caused many children’s brains to create multiple personality disorders, but Tyler was spared disorder. It’s a God thing. He transformed his pain and trauma into art, humor, drama, and hope. He made it a way to be seen and for people to be able to see themselves.”
Winfrey noted that “God” is the secret to Perry’s success.
“Tyler loves God, and God sho’ loves Tyler,” she joked.
We reported earlier that Perry and Winfrey are teaming up for their first feature film project with his latest movie, Netflix’s “The Six Triple Eight,” starring Kerry Washington. The story centers on World War II’s only Women’s Army Corps unit of color, which Perry wrote, directed, and produced alongside Nicole Avant, Angi Bones, Tony L. Strickland, Keri Selig, and Carlota Espinosa.
“I had to find the right thing for her,” Perry said about Oprah while speaking to Variety at the film’s press junket on Tuesday. “All these years we’ve been friends, I knew we’d work together at some point, but I wanted to find something that was worthy of her. Because she’s not a Madea kind of girl. I don’t see her sitting there with Madea having a conversation.”
The filmmaker added, “To have this moment where she’s Mary McLeod Bethune, and what Oprah represents so many, as well as what Mary McLeod represented to so many during that day, it was appropriate.”
“The Six Triple Eight” debuts in select theaters on Dec. 6 and begins streaming Dec. 20 on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
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