Tyler Perry has had some negative experiences mixing family and finances.
“I fired my aunt,” the media mogul explained on a recent episode of the Den of Kings podcast, where he and host Kirk Franklin spoke with Jeezy and Derrick Hayes about leadership. “She said she wanted a job. She would always call, asking for money. I’m like, ‘OK.’ I was sending the money. I was like, ‘Listen. I wanna help you. I want to help you build this thing, not be welfare to you. So, let me give you a job.'”
But that didn’t quite work out.
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“She wasn’t coming in, was calling in all the time,” the Madea movie franchise actor, writer, producer, and director said.
So he made a decision: “‘OK, well, you’ve got to go. Cause you want me to hand you the money, but you don’t want to work for it.'”
Perry, who’s based in Atlanta, said it was a simple call.
“That doesn’t work for me. And it’s the same way with my son,” said Perry, who shares pre-teen Aman with ex Gelila Bekele. “He’s 10 years old. There are certain things that he wants. He has to do chores and work for it. I don’t believe in giving us things that are just going to handicap us. That is the worst thing you can do.”
Perry’s estimated worth is $1.4 billion, according to Forbes. so the money issue has come up more than that one time. The producer of the Madea movies used to help some of his family members when his mother asked.
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“When she passed away in 2009, I sent all of them letters saying, ‘Listen, you got 60 days to become gainfully employed, because I’m not going to keep supporting you like this,'” Perry said. “They all got jobs. And it wasn’t even jobs where they’re making a lot of money, but it was a job. It was something else for them to do to feel some pride in. That’s the same thing I would want somebody to do for me.”
But not everyone appreciated his approach.
“I had a family member who got mad at me cause I wouldn’t give them a million dollars,” Perry said.
Listen to their full conversation above.
