Tyler Perry's Oprah interview provokes discussion of child abuse on cyberspace
Actor and director Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman) went on Oprah to talk about his painful experiences of sexual and physical abuse. Perry's opening up about his experience is welcomed by many who shared the same experience, and is currently much-discussed in the cyberspace.
"Whether [Tyler Perry] has a movie coming out or not, the fact that he can talk about being molested will help someone else have the strength to talk about it," said a MySpace user.
This is not the first time that Perry discusses his childhood experience. He had been previously interviewed by Oprah Winfrey last April, along with Janet Jackson.
But Tyler Perry's most recent interview is more graphic, and more detailed than the last one. Hollywood's second top earning man revealed that he first experienced oral sex from a man from his church, as a child. The interview comes at the buzz created by Oprah;s previous interview with the a teenager who killed his molester.
Lime Life reports: "The details of Perry's sexual abuse revealed on Oprah's show are both graphic and horrifying, and create a lasting image of a childhood that Perry himself called 'a living hell'"
Tyler Perry spoke his entire experience throughout his childhood, not mincing a word when he delves on the violent beatings suffered at the hands of his father and the depression which caused him to attempt suicide.
Tyler Perry told Oprah: "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, the flesh that's coming from my bone, and I had to wait for him to go to sleep."
"When he fell asleep, I ran to my aunt's house, and she was mortified when she saw it.
Perry had also revealed to Oprah that he was sexually molested by four different adults, as a child as early as when he was five years old.
However, in spite of Tyler's traumatic experience at the hands of his father, he extended forgiveness to him, even when he has not apologized for the beatings that Tyler received. Tyler's opening up aims to encourage men affected by the abuse to open up.