Tyler Perry Opens Up About the Father Who "Despised" Him

In 2010, Tyler Perry appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and revealed the disturbing details of his abusive childhood. Tyler's father was a violent man, and young Tyler was often the target of his rage.

"From a child, I had always known that this man despised me," Tyler says. "I could not figure out why he hated me so. And every action was about his hatred or his disdain for me."

Something inside Tyler—a "voice," he calls it—made him question his biological relation to his father early in his youth, but each time Tyler asked his mother about his paternity, she stated that the man raising him was indeed his dad. After Tyler's mother died in 2009, the voice inside him wouldn't go away. So, Tyler underwent DNA testing and learned the truth: The man who raised him and abused him was not his biological father.

Here, Tyler recounts his reaction to this news and ponders the possible reasons for his mother's unwavering response.

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