Tyler Perry compares royal family to ‘a batterer’ after Sussexes quit ‘The Firm’
‘And for [Harry and Meghan] to have the wherewithal to say “I don’t give a damn if it’s the palace. I’m outta here,” I applauded that,’ said Perry in episode six of the Netflix documentary
The final part of the Sussexes’ controversial Netflix documentary has landed on the streaming platform.
The six-episode series shows interviews with close friends of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Among them is actor, comedian and producer, Tyler Perry, 53, who helped the couple as they left the UK for a new life in Los Angeles.
In episode six of Harry and Meghan, Perry compared “the institution” to a “batterer” for the way the royal couple were treated.
He explained: “To use the institution to try and do all the things a batterer would do, like, here’s what we’re gonna do, ‘we’re gonna cut off the money; we’re not gonna leave you security; we’re gonna do all those things to make you comply and come back’.”
The Independent has contacted the Palace for comment.
Perry went on to applaud the couple’s decision to leave royal duties.
“And for the both of them to have the wherewithal to say ‘I don’t give a damn if it’s the palace. I’m outta here,’ I applauded that,” he said.
He also reveals that he is godfather to Harry and Meghan’s daughter, Lilibet.
Earlier in the clip, Perry explained that he watched his mother be abused in the past, and recognised similarities in the way Meghan, and Harry, were treated during the period where they announced their decision to step down from royal duties.
Perry said: “I saw my mother be abused for years. I knew the symptoms, I knew what it was like.”
“Everyone’s like, ‘Tyler, how dare you compare this to the abuse of your mother?’” he continues. “This woman was abused and so was he.”
During their tell-all with Orpah Winfrey in 2021, Harry and Meghan confirmed it was a Los Angeles mansion owned by Perry they had headed to when leaving Canada for the US, days before the first Covid lockdown.
Meghan shared that Tyler Perry said he wanted to “anything” he could to support the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they moved to the US, as he described the love they have for each other as “really, really moving”.
The actor, who created the famous Madea character, provided a home and security for Harry and Meghan when they moved from Canada to the US in 2020.
Elsewhere in episode six, Perry remembers a phone call he had with the couple after the birth of their daughter, Lilibet, who was born in June 2021, two years after their son Archie was born in May 2019. During the conversation, the couple asked Perry if he wanted to be Lilibet’s godfather, to which he agreed.
Perry said that he was “honoured” to be Lilbet’s godfather.
In episode five of the Netflix series, Harry claims that the Palace “lied to protect” his brother, William.
The Duke of Sussex also claimed that his brother screamed and shouted at him in a “terrifying” row at the family’s Sandringham Estate.
You can follow our live blog of Harry and Meghan as it unfolds here.