Filmmaker, playwright and actor Tyler Perry is teaching his son early the importance of hard work and appreciation. In a recent interview on The Sherri Show, the 55-year-old explained that, unlike others with celebrity parents, his son gets a couple of gifts for Christmas and flies coach when traveling. The entrepreneur emphasized that his success (stemming from 24 feature films, 20 stage plays, 17 television shows and two bestselling books) is his own. Should Perry’s son, Aman, follow in his footsteps one day, he can spoil himself with first-class flights.
“He was complaining once, this was about five years ago, he was complaining about flying commercial ‘cuz the lines were so long.” At this point, his co-parent, Gelila Bekele called Perry and insisted their son no longer fly on his private plane. “[It’s] so he understands, I worked, he did not,” the New Orleans native explained. “He’s not gonna be one of those ridiculously spoiled rich kids, I can’t stand that. He ain’t got no money.”
Life Before Fatherhood: The Rise of Perry’s Career
Despite speaking about his parenting style and relationship with his son, Tyler Perry has managed to keep him out of the spotlight. The Six Triple Eight director wants Aman to have as normal a life as possible, which makes sense as he grew up in poverty with an abusive father, Emmitt, who he was named after until changing his moniker to Tyler at 16. Per the New Georgia Encylopedia, Perry didn’t complete high school in his youth, though he did later return to obtain his GED long before reaching millionaire status.
As the one-man show behind the Madea franchise, the NOLA native directed, produced and starred in his first musical in 1992 and released his first film in 2005. In total, Perry has produced 71 films, 66 of which he wrote and 61 of which he directed. The success of his work has also led to the launch of his own production compound – Tyler Perry Studios – a 330-acre lot (previously a Confederate Army base used as a general hospital during the Spanish-American War and World War I) located in Atlanta, Georgia.
Acquired in 2015, the production hub is the first in the United States to be owned by an African American. “Making history where history was made,” the studio has 12 sound stages. It also has a 75,000-square-foot water tank and hundreds of acres of green space. Around the same time he launched his studio, Perry and his ex-girlfriend celebrated the birth of their son, Aman.
Creative Co-Parents With Ex-Girlfriend, Model and Filmmaker Gelila Bekele
Almost ten years into creating his legacy, Perry added “father” to his many roles. As 21Ninety notes, he met fellow film lover and the mother of his child, Gelila Bekele at a Prince concert in 2009. They dated for several years before welcoming their son in 2014. As of writing, the couple is no longer together and is instead very intentional about co-parenting with a focus on raising a humble and grateful young man. The writer-producer-director-actor’s net worth of $1.4 billion makes the high costs of parenting easier to handle, but that doesn’t mean Perry won’t teach Aman the value of hard work and creative expression.
Tyler Perry Credits His Son Aman With Teaching Him Humility
While Perry has only spoken of having one son, an appeal exists detailing an alleged connection to a second child. The other son is said to be from another relationship with a woman named Kaitlyn Jenkins, the mother of a young boy named Carson. Until further proof can substantiate these claims, Aman is Perry’s only son.
The father of one described parenthood to People as surreal, incredible and moving. Through it all, Perry is dedicated to standing in his purpose to usher Aman into living his own life. Together, Perry and Bekele have committed to teaching him that to have anything is a blessing. With godmothers like the late Cicely Tyson and fellow media tycoon Oprah Winfrey watching over him, the nepo baby has a better shot at success than most his age – but only if he’s willing to work for it!
