Tyler Perry's Traumatic Childhood
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One particular beating Tyler says he'll never forget is the time his father brutally whipped him with a vacuum cord.
"To this day, I don't 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's coming from my bone, and I had to wait for him to go to sleep," Tyler says. "When he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt's house, and she was mortified when she saw it.
Tyler's aunt Jerry she says he didn't say a word when got to her house, but he was crying. "I lifted his shirt, and there were five huge welts—long and they had lines in them, and they almost broke his skin," she says. "I got very upset.
"And what did you do, Aunt Jerry?" Oprah asks.
"I picked up a gun," she says. "I'm not proud of the fact, but I did and I went around the corner to their house. I met [Tyler's father] on the sidewalk, and I pointed the gun at him."
That same day, Jerry says she told Tyler's mother, Maxine, that she should never leave Tyler alone with his father again. "I knew that he couldn't stay there with him," Jerry says. "And she took him everywhere with her after that."
"To this day, I don't 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's coming from my bone, and I had to wait for him to go to sleep," Tyler says. "When he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt's house, and she was mortified when she saw it.
Tyler's aunt Jerry she says he didn't say a word when got to her house, but he was crying. "I lifted his shirt, and there were five huge welts—long and they had lines in them, and they almost broke his skin," she says. "I got very upset.
"And what did you do, Aunt Jerry?" Oprah asks.
"I picked up a gun," she says. "I'm not proud of the fact, but I did and I went around the corner to their house. I met [Tyler's father] on the sidewalk, and I pointed the gun at him."
That same day, Jerry says she told Tyler's mother, Maxine, that she should never leave Tyler alone with his father again. "I knew that he couldn't stay there with him," Jerry says. "And she took him everywhere with her after that."
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