Tyler Perry was honored by the Paley Center on Wednesday for his body of work in film, television and the stage. He’s at the stage of his career where he’s regularly picking up awards and tributes for his career and his work outside of entertainment. All of that is very well and good and I’m not minimizing any part of his groundbreaking career. But to me, he’ll always be the guy who decided to save the Sussexes’ lives when he really had no reason to. He wrote Meghan a letter when she married Harry, and she ended up reaching out to him in 2020, when the Sussexes escaped the UK but they were being hunted and targeted. Tyler protected them, gave them a home, gave them security and gave them time to work out their next steps.
All of that was the start of a very real friendship, and now they’re family. Tyler isn’t just godfather to Princess Lili, he’s a godfather-like figure to both Meghan and Harry. He is also the rare person with some kind of cultural gravitas, explaining what actually happened and what he saw: the Sussexes were being abused by the Windsors and by powerful institutions. Go back and read what he said about them. Well, there were no hard feelings when Harry had to miss Tyler’s Paley Honors. Meghan was there, and she was seated by Tyler at the event, and he also spoke about them on the red carpet:
Tyler Perry is taking a bow for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. After all, the filmmaker couldn’t help but gush over the Duchess and Duke of Sussex’s royally sweet marriage.
“They love each other,” Tyler told E! News at the Paley Honors Fall Gala, where he was honored with the prestigious Paley Honors award. “They have a beautiful family and I just want the best for them.”
Of his personal dynamic with Harry and Meghan—the latter of whom attended the Gala in support of Tyler—he added, “It’s a real, pure and beautiful friendship. I love them.”
I’ve often wondered, in the past five years, if Harry and Meghan get this kind of consistent support from many powerful Americans (Oprah, Beyonce) but it’s just not as public as it is with Tyler. Anyway, Tyler is a mensch.
Tyler Perry on The Paley Honors red carpet talking about his friendship with Prince Harry & Meghan. pic.twitter.com/iyq1b2fzJz
— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) December 5, 2024
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images and Backgrid.
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- Beverly Hills, CA – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends The Paley Center for Media hosts Paley Honors Fall Gala honoring Tyler Perry at Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 4 DECEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Beverly Hills, CA – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends The Paley Center for Media hosts Paley Honors Fall Gala honoring Tyler Perry at Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 4 DECEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Beverly Hills, CA – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends The Paley Center for Media hosts Paley Honors Fall Gala honoring Tyler Perry at Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 4 DECEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Beverly Hills, CA – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends The Paley Center for Media hosts Paley Honors Fall Gala honoring Tyler Perry at Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 4 DECEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Celebrities arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘The Six Triple Eight’ held at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on December 3, 2024 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States Featuring: Tyler Perry Where: Hollywood, California, United States When: 03 Dec 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
It would have been SO NICE if Meghan’s own dad stepped up in this way. Instead, she has Tyler Perry, and I am so grateful for that. He’s the dad she has always needed.
Harry’s father didn’t step up either. Family is the people you choose. It’s lovely when they include your relatives, but ultimately what matters is that you find the people who will stand up for you.
💯
1000% – it’s heartbreaking when family isn’t there for you but good true friends will help heal your soul.
In fact, Harry’s father WAS the problem
Exactly! Both their families are deadbeats and very thankfully they have found chosen family to step into the void. The same way many of us out in the normal world have also had to do. God bless Tyler Perry and all the others we don’t know about.
Tyler unfortunately understands what it’s like to have an abusive father, to not be able to depend on family.
Tyler is a wonderful great man.
H&M aren’t the only people Tyler has helped! He is such an amazing human being; to see someone born where he was, become whom he is and still reach out to help others is quite amazing! In contrast, look at Charles or 🥚, born with all the privileges in the world but absolutely dreadful human beings.
Seeing the way H&M have embraced Tyler should shame Charles!
I’m sure that they’re friends with a lot of people that we aren’t aware of, or at least on good terms with a lot of people that we would be surprised to find out about or think that they aren’t for whatever reason. Social media has made it to whereas people feel that is you’re not publicly detailing your relationship with people it doesn’t exist. I think that they have a very strong support system that have figured out who is trustworthy and provides them with the ability to relax and escape on trips or in private home environments. I think they have a nice mix of friends that they can call at 3:00 a.m., and the ones that will post about how much they love them on Instagram.
I agree. We actually saw alot of their friendships in 2024 and some were ones we didn’t know about previously. They really seem to have built a wonderful community for them and their kids. Its nice to see.
I think its clear that they are close with Oprah (between the bookstore opening and Oprah’s favorite things) and Meghan didn’t get to hang out with Kelly Rowland et al at Beyonce’s concert because Beyonce is just meh on her, you know? I think they have a big support system of very famous people and I think they are well liked in Montecito.
When you see how Doria was treated… smh family and friends are probably safer out of the limelight but just because they aren’t public doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
LOVE his suit.
I’ve said this before, but it literally brings tears to my eyes every single time I read about what Tyler Perry did for the Sussexes. Just thinking about the fact that Meghan was in such a dark, desperate place that she reached out to a stranger, and TP immediately stepped up. Gave them a place to stay, protected them, and, quite importantly, validated their feelings and called the abuse by its proper name. I wonder if, when he wrote that letter to Meghan, he ever imagined the actual nature and full extent of the help he would be asked for? It was, frankly, A LOT. But he didn’t even hesitate. That generosity and compassion is so remarkable to me.
Tyler spoke at the awards about still missing his mom despite the number of years since she had passed. And I remember in the Netflix doc when he spoke about how his mom had such a huge love for Diana. And then for him later to be able to support Diana’s son and grandchildren in their time of need. It’s a lot of connections.
I love that you connected these dots Jais and it’s literally like Diana saved her son through Tyler Perry. He really did save their lives. He has treated the Sussexes better than some of their own family and I think he has nailed the perfect combination of defending them publicly and letting everyone know he has their backs while still respecting their privacy. Much respect to him!
There really are dots! And it’s like Tyler is honoring his own mother through his support. It was her love that sparked something. It really is moving. Just to add another dot, there was also that painting in Tyler’s house that Archie kept looking at and loving and eventually Harry realized that the caption of the painting was goddess of the hunt, Diana.
Thanks for the reminder. I still wonder what was going through his mind when he chose to write to Meghan and offer his help. It can’t have been only that his mother loved Diana. Maybe she also had strong opinions about how Diana was treated and Tyler grew up hearing about them. Lots of people had questions about how Meghan would fare in the RF (John Oliver, for one), but Tyler actually did something about it.
This is true. I’m thinking his mother probably had some thoughts about how Diana was treated. But yeah it was Tyler that chose to write to Meghan in that moment. He spoke in the doc about remembering a clip of Diana after the divorce being hounded by press and how very unprotected she was. I can only guess he just thought Meghan at some point might need a friend and he was right.
I haven’t checked this, but I think Tyler said in the documentary that he recognized that Harry and Meghan were suffering more than one form of abuse from their families and from the press. He said he recognized it because his father was abusive to his mother. He was saving them from abuse. It appears that both Tyler and Harry are each very much his mother’s son, and each is dedicated to doing good in her memory. As well, both men are kind and compassionate and hard-working. It’s interesting that it’s actually the mothers that are the connection. As I’m sure others have already pointed out, it almost seems like fate. Diana earned a lot of credit in the world that eventually helps her younger son. William was given a lot of grace because he was Diana’s son, which he wasted. Harry didn’t seem to get the same grace because he was being used by his father, but Harry overcame the lack of grace shown him because of his innate strength of character and the willingness to recognize his problems and seek help. Harry also has had the good fortune to meet a mate who brings out the best in him, and allows him to help and support her. Together, they are stronger. I believe Tyler also said that he takes care of his father financially because he promised his mother that he would.
@Jais and @tamsin – thanks for your insights. It’s so interesting that love for Diana transcends generations and that her goodwill was essentially bequeathed to her sons. As you say, one son squandered his inheritance and the other used it wisely.
I’m still astonished by Tyler’s actions. Many people can sympathize with H&M’s situation, they can come out on the Sussexes’ side, they can recognize abuse. Meghan had many supportive and wealthy friends in her circle, but it was the guy she had never met who reached out with an open-ended offer of help, without having any idea of what kind of help would be required. And when the call for help came, he stepped up right away and went above and beyond. I think that’s extraordinary.
As a Black person he knows how insidious racism towards us is, and as a creative he probably ran scenarios through his mind. Also frankly he probably wasn’t sure if Harry was going to stand with her or throw her under the bus like they did Diana.
@dreamchild – Oprah and Serena would certainly know about racism, but they weren’t the ones Meghan reached out to. But it’s so interesting what you say about Harry. His true character wasn’t generally known then, as it is now, and I don’t know that anyone expected him to cut ties with the RF just to protect Meghan. You’re probably right about Tyler being able to imagine future scenarios.
Harry and Meghan are lucky to have Tyler in their lives.
Tyler Perry is a real one. Like many, I am grateful he was there for the Sussexes.
I can’t really add anything substantial to what has already been mentioned, but I just need to be another Squad adjacent to express my gratitude for the way Tyler has been there for the Sussexes — when the Mountbatten Windsor-Wailses-Parker Bowleses couldn’t care less.
It’s an example of Tyler’s character, but also of Meghan’s reputation, and to a lesser extent, Harry’s, that TP offered his help and friendship to people he didn’t even know because they had never met.
They and their charities will always have my support.
It’s such a simple sentiment and yet its one that their birth families seem completely incapable of expressing them. H&M love each other, Tyler loves them, and he wants what is best for them and their children.
It’s not transactional, its not “well if you do this then I’ll forgive you” or whatever. It’s just pure friendship.
Tyler is a mensch to people that are at his level or above but not to his underlings. He is a low-paying hard driver who puts his employees in difficult at best circumstances in order to maximize his own pocketbook. Look up stories about his studios and Atlanta and contrast the conditions that the workers toil under with pictures of his lavish home.
I have no doubt that he has been wonderful to Harry and Megan and Oprah and any number of other people whose approval he seeks but he is not a wonderful human being at his core, just another opportunist in it for himself.
It’s silly, I know, but the thing I remember best from the Tyler Perry segments on the Harry & Meghan documentary is Tyler’s comment that neither H&M had been in his house before, and for all they knew, the bedrooms had big circular beds with stripper poles around them. Harry laughed and said it wouldn’t have mattered if that were the case. I got a quiet chuckle out of that.
There’s also a segment in Spare in which Harry reports that after they moved in, Archie became fixated on a painting in Tyler’s house. Neither he nor Meghan thought much of it until Harry asked Tyler what the title of the painting was, and Tyler replied, “Diana.” Dots and dots indeed …