Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, Kerry Washington Celebrate Tyler Perry

Oprah Winfrey, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and Kerry Washington were among the A-list crowd who assembled to present Tyler Perry with the prestigious Paley Honors Award on Wednesday evening.

The Paley Center for Media’s annual fall gala, held in the ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, feted the billionaire media mogul for his achievements as an actor, writer, director, producer, philanthropist and the owner of the 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. In addition to Winfrey, Washington and the Duchess, Perry’s cheering section was made up of an elite group of his close friends, collaborators and contemporaries, including the Honorable Nicole Avant and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, Debra L. Lee, Ari Emanuel, Jon Feltheimer, Debbie Allen, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Cookie Johnson, Tina Knowles, Ebony Obsidian, Tika Sumpter, Diane Warren, Yvette Nicole Brown and more.

Winfrey kicked off the ceremony with her usual aplomb. “I am just delighted to be here tonight — and I really do mean that, because I don’t like to go out much — but I’m out tonight because I get to talk about my big little brother,” she began. “He is a giant among men. Not only in what you see in his 6’6″ physical stature, but he is a giant soul. He has a ginormous spirit that is guided by a divine hand.“

The secret to Perry’s outsized success, Winfrey noted: “The man knows how to create art that lets people know they matter.”

Winfrey described Perry as “the quiet Good Samaritan,” explaining how he turned a childhood rife with trauma and abuse into a beacon of hope for others through his philanthropic works. Among the good deeds that Perry has kept under wraps, Winfrey revealed, was his financial support of the Turpin children, a California family whose survival of horrific abuse made national headlines.

“The majority of people watch the news and they think, ‘Oh, what a shame,’” Winfrey said, as an emotional Perry looked on from the audience, with Meghan and Washington seated to his right. “Tyler watches and says, ‘What can I do now to make a change?’”

Perry and the Duchess’ close friendship began when the media mogul offered Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Meghan refuge at his home in Los Angeles amid the media circus around their departure from the U.K. (Perry was later revealed to be godfather to Meghan and Prince Harry’s second child, daughter Lilibet, in their 2023 Netflix docuseries.) Meanwhile, Washington and Perry’s longtime friendship is accentuated by two collaborations on their professional resumes: as actor and director for 2010’s “For Colored Girls” and the upcoming film “The Six Triple Eight.”

In her speech, Washington shared how Perry’s belief in her abilities impacted her. When he offered the role in “For Colored Girls,” Washington’s film career was stagnant and she’s just achieved her dream of starring on Broadway, so she was considering giving up acting. “I was like, ‘I think this is it. I think I’m done. There’s no more acting for me, because I didn’t see a space for me in this business,’” Washington said. “And around that time, I got a call from Tyler Perry.”

She continued: “Tyler encouraged me to dream a bigger dream for myself, to reach further, to dream that there was something out there for me that was beyond what I had imagined. He invited me into a world with my peers and with my heroes, and he told me that I belonged, and it changed the trajectory of my career.”

In “The Six Triple Eight,” Washington stars as Major Charity Adams, the commander of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only troop of Black women and women of color to serve in Europe during World War II. The Netflix film reveals the untold story of these 855 women who made a crucial contribution to the war effort by sorting through a three-year backlog of mail (17 million pieces of it). “The Six Triple Eight” will debut in select theaters on Dec. 6, then begins streaming on Dec. 20 and marks Perry’s third feature release as director in 2024. In February, he debuted “Mea Culpa,” following it up with “Divorce in the Black” in July.

Washington also noted Perry’s prolific output, saying that she warned Sarandos while making “The Six Triple Eight” that the way Perry works is not normal. “I wanted him to beware,” Washington quipped. “I know that looking at these call sheets, it’s going to look like anybody can make a movie in the amount of time that Tyler does, with the budget that Tyler does, as quickly and efficiently as Tyler does. But there’s only one Tyler — you can’t expect that from other filmmakers.”

Sarandos and Avant were the final presenters of the evening and also reflected on their experience making the wartime drama. (Avant produced the film and brought Perry on to helm the project.)

“Tyler is a friend who always shows up,” Avant said. “He shows up for his friends. He shows up in his life, and he shows up in his work. Throughout this incredible career, Tyler has not only shown up, but he has also created his own lane and his own seat at the table. And from that seat, he has changed our culture.

Added Sarandos: “No detail is spared in his work. It’s mind-boggling to see it. It’s an honor to be so close to it, and a privilege to be in partnership with it.”

When Avant and Sarandos invited Perry up to accept his crystal trophy, the filmmaker was buoyed by a standing ovation from the well-heeled crowd and, again, appeared visibily moved. Once he reached the microphone, Perry shared why the evening was particularly emotional — Dec. 8 marks the 15-year anniversary of his beloved mother Maxine Perry’s death.

“This time of year is really, really difficult,” he said, holding back tears. “What I usually do is I don’t book anything — I hide out, pray, I talk to God, and I just be alone so that I can grieve, because I don’t know how grief is going to show up.” But because of the timing of “The Six Triple Eight’s” release, he’s out and about this year, and after having a breakthrough in therapy, Perry is focused on being as present as possible during nights like this one. He explained: “Part of that was understanding, ‘How do I allow myself to be celebrated?’”

In an intense and vulnerable 10-minute speech, Perry detailed some of the horrific abuses he endured growing up — including watching his father beat his mother after she tried to flee with Perry and his siblings; the sexual predators who abused him as a child; being stopped and frisked by police because he was “Black and big”; and a particularly sadistic teacher who killed Perry’s pet hamster under the guise of a science experiment.

“The very fact that I can stand here today — and that little boy who didn’t have the tools that I have as a man was able to make it — I think that’s enough to allow myself to celebrate,” Perry said, adding that despite those traumas, the perpetrators weren’t able to rob him of his compassion. “At 55 years old, I am the freest version of myself that I’ve ever been. I turned toward all of that pain, threw my arms wide open, embraced every bit of it, stared the shame, went down in it and took the power out so that I could heal. And I would challenge each and every one of you to do that as well.”

That last anecdote, about the sick science teacher, was a memory Perry recently unlocked — along with the troubling realization that when he walked home from school that day, no one asked him why the hamster’s cage was empty.

“I want to thank everyone here who showed up for me,” he told the crowd, concluding his heartfelt remarks. “This moment represents people showing up for me, asking me, ‘Why is your cage empty?’”

Perry adds the Paley award to a trophy case that also includes the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (presented at the 2021 Oscars) and the Governors Award (from the 2020 Emmys). He also has a multiyear first-look deal with Netflix, as well as a four-picture film deal with Amazon, which released an all-encompassing documentary about his life, 2023’s “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.” Perry also recently extended his exclusive multiyear linear and streaming content partnership agreement with the BET Media Group that includes seven original dramas and comedies, plus his equity interest in the BET+ streaming service.

“Through his acclaimed and prolific body of work, Tyler Perry has solidified his place as one of media’s greatest and most impactful figures,” stated Maureen J. Reidy, president & CEO of The Paley Center for Media, when plans to award Perry were announced earlier this year. “With each new project, he continues to move our industry, and our culture, forward, and it is our great privilege to present Tyler with our highest honor.”

The Paley Honors tribute gala’s host committee included Ari Emanuel, Jon Feltheimer, Whoopi Goldberg, Taraji P. Henson, Matt Johnson, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gayle King, Debra L. Lee, Mellody Hobson and George Lucas, Scott Mills, Avant, Sarandos and Washington.